Surviving-Cancers.com

Kristen Anderson, Ph.D.

Kristen Anderson, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, led a study linking charred meat with pancreatic cancer.

Her group had previously studied the effects of compounds that form on red meat during high heat cooking.

208 cases of pancreatic cancer were observed in this later 9 year study, based on 62,581 people’s actual diets.   The survey data were taken as a part of the PLCO (Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian) Multi-center Screening Trial.

The people in the study were divided into 5 groups depending on their preferences of how their meat was cooked.  Almost all of the cases of pancreatic cancer occurred in the two groups who preferred their meat well done.  Comparing the groups with the highest consumption of well cooked meat versus the lowest showed a 70% increase in pancreatic cancer incidence.

Frying, grilling, or barbecuing produces heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.  These mutagens and carcinogens are formed in time- and temperature-dependent manners.

Baking, stewing or microwaving and pouring off juices before grilling reduce the precursors of these carcinogenic chemicals.  Cooking longer over a lower heat also kills bacteria without forming carcinogens.  Burned sections of meat should always be trimmed off.

With summer coming on, be aware that those barbecued steaks on the grill, as delicious as they may be, might result in pancreatic cancer.

Two separate studies indicate that coffee and tea may reduce the chance of developing endometrial cancer.  Better known as uterine cancer, it is the fourth most common cancer in women.

One study led by Susan E. McCann of the Roswell Park Cancer Center Institute in Buffalo, New York surveyed 1100 women.  In this study it was found that the chance of developing uterine cancer was

-50% less with 4 cups of coffee and tea a day
-44% less with 2 cups of tea a day
-29% less with 2 cups of coffee a day
-no different with decaffeinated coffee

In the other study, done by Japan’s National Cancer Center, 53,724 women aged 40 to 69 were divided into 4 groups by the amount of coffee consumed.

In the Japanese study it was found that those women who consumed at least 3 cups of coffee a day were 60% less likely to develop endometrial cancer than those who drank coffee less than twice a week.  Green tea was observed to have no effect.

The exact mechanism by which coffee and tea reduce the odds of developing cancer are not known, but both are known to contain flavonoids, catechins, and isoflavenoids.  These substances may reduce the levels of insulin and estrogen in the body.  Increased levels of estrogen appear to play a role in the development of endometrial cancer.

Additionally, caffeine induces enzymes that work to neutralize potential cancer causing substances.

If you are a woman concerned about developing uterine cancer and love your coffee and tea, drink up!

While I post information on cancer research on this blog, I felt it was important to address another issue related to cancer.

In 1989 my wife was diagnosed with sarcoma of the lungs. At the time of the diagnosis it was discovered to have already spread from one lung to the other lung and to her liver. Her oncologist gave her one year to live — two on the outside.

That first stay at the hospital cost several thousand dollars and, at the time I took her home, approximately $800 of medications were required to be picked up at the pharmacy.

Over the next nine months she spent five days out of every fifteen in a hospital bed with an IV dripping chemo drugs into her system. After that we made periodic trips to the hospital as her disease advanced, often seeing various specialists and adding or deleting medications.

More often than not, the payments by the insurance company covered more than one bill… or one bill was split into several payments. Keeping track of the bills from doctors, pharmacies, and various departments of the hospital and submitting them to the insurance company for payment or reimbursement became a nightmare.

By the time my wife passed away, two years after her diagnosis, I had three 1 1/2” binders filled with the paperwork for her illness.

The point I wish to get across is the importance of keeping records in an organized fashion during a very unorganized period of time. When cancer is diagnosed, it turns one’s world upside down and the stress level is high. The last thing a patient or spouse needs is having to deal with the horrendous paperwork.

While some might be able to organize these records as I did, I would suggest using an already developed system such as Amber Bowden’s MedTrakker.  Life would have been much simpler if I had been able to purchase a record keeping system rather than develop my own.

Keeping accurate records is important for many reasons such as taxes, incorrect billing, and seeing what actions are actually being taken in the battle with the disease.

Note: While I strongly advocate the MedTrakker system, I receive no compensation for doing so. Neither do I recieve any commission for sales of the product. I simply believe it to be a good system to save time and energy which can be better spent on fighting the illness.