Vitamin D and breast cancer risk

The evidence for how important vitamin D is keeps increasing.

The study reviewed here examined the association between breast cancer and plasma 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels (Crew KD. et al, 2009). 25-hydroxy vitamin D is the most common blood test used to check the status of vitamin D.

When women with vitamin D deficiency of less than 20 mg/ml of 25-hydroxy vitamin D were compared with women showing a level of more that 40 mg/ml, it was found that levels above 40 mg/ml were associated with decreased breast cancer risk. The reduction in risk was greater among postmenopausal women.

These results add to the growing body of evidence that adequate vitamin D stores may prevent the development of breast cancer.


Reference:

Crew KD., et al. Association between Plasma 25-Hydrocyvitamin D and Breast Cancer Risk. Cancer Prev Res. 2009 Jun; 2(6):598-604.

For more information on the health benefits of vitamin D click here

Relationship between inflammatory marker and omega 3 fat

Highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a marker for low grade systemic inflammation. Low grade systemic inflammation is the type of inflammation you may not be aware of, but it is a risk factor for chronic disease.

Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease are some examples where low grade inflammation plays a role. A simple blood test can measure hs-CRP.

Omega 3 fatty acids are known to have an anti-inflammatory effect and are associated with reduced cardiovascular risk.

The study referred to here, investigated the omega 3 fatty acid concentrations of the participants were related to their hs-CRP levels. (Micalled MA, et al, 2009)

The participants were divided into three groups, one group with hs-CRP less than 1 mg/L, another group with hs-CRP between 1 and 3mg/L, and then one group with hs-CRP above mg/L.

The group that had a hs-CRP level of more than 3 mg/L had significantly lower concentrations of total omega 3 fatty acids when compared with the other groups.

This is even more evidence that eating fish such as wild salmon or taking a good quality omega 3 fish oil supplement can provide significant health benefits.

References:

Micallef MA., et al. An inverse relationship between plasma n-3 fatty acids and C-reactive protein in healthy individuals. Eur J CLin Nutr. 2009 Apr 8.

For more information on the health benefits of omega 3 fish oil click here.

Physical activity provides cancer protection.

Everybody is aware that exercise provides cardiovascular benefits, but it may not be that well known that exercise can also be effective in the prevention of cancer.

The two studies referred to here examined the association between physical activity and breast cancer risk ( Martina E., et al, 2008, Suzukis., et al, 2008). One of the studies was conducted in Germany and the other one in Japan. The results were the same confirming that the results hold true both for Asian and Western populations.

The German study analyzed the association between physical activity in 3414 postmenopausal women, comparing them with 6569 controls. They found that it was a significant protective effect of physical activity on breast cancer. The researchers concluded that the effects of physical activity were independent from adult weight gain, body mass index and energy intake. The results suggested that physical activity may reduce postmenopausal breast cancer risk at least in part via hormonal pathways, not only by changing body composition.

The Japanese study included 30-157 women between the ages of 40 to 69 years. The conclusion of this investigation was that walking for 1 hour per day and undertaking additional weekly exercise both seemed to be protective against breast cancer regardless of menopausal status or body mass index.

References:

Martina E. Schmidt, et al. Physical Activity and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer: Effect Modification by Breast Cancer Subtypes and Effective Periods in Life. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Dec;17(12):3402-10. Epub 2008 Nov 24.

Sadao Suzuki, et, al. Effect of physical Activity on Breast Cancer Risk: Findings of the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Dec;17(12):3396-401. Epub 2008 Nov 24.

Sweetened beverages linked to risk of heart disease

Previous research has linked sugar-sweetened beverages to weight gain and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The study reviewed here investigated the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and the risk for coronary heart disease in 88,250 women aged 34-59 years (Fung T.T. et al, 2009). These women were free of heart disease at the start of the study and were followed for 24 years.

The more often these women consumed the sweet beverages, the higher was the risk for coronary heart disease. The researchers concluded that even after other unhealthful lifestyles or dietary factors were accounted for, regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease in women.

Reference:

Fung TT, et al. Sweetened beverage consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in women. Am j Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr; 89(4): 1037-42.

Sleep is important for your blood pressure

Getting enough quality sleep is important for the immunity and health in general.

The interesting thing is that sleep can affect the blood pressure drastically. 1741 men and women participated in a recent study to evaluate how insomnia and poor sleep affected blood pressure (Alexandros N., et al., 2009).

The participants were divided into three categories. One group, 50% of the participants got 6 hours or more of sleep per night. Another group got approximately 5-6 hours of sleep and the third group slept for 5 hours or less per night.

As you probably have guessed the ones with insomnia and less than five hours sleep duration had the highest risk for hypertension (high blood pressure) and then came the participants with insomnia who slept between 5-6 hours. The risk for hypertension was also significantly higher, but of lesser magnitude, in poor sleepers with short sleep duration.

References:

Alexandros N. et al. Insomnia with Objective Short Sleep Duration is Associated with a High Risk for Hypertension. Sleep 2009;32(4):491-497.

Less salt helps more than blood pressure

A low salt diet is usually recommended for people who have high blood pressure.

The study referred to here investigated the effect of salt reduction on vascular function by measuring artery flow-mediated vasodilation (widening of blood vessels) (Dickinson KM, et al, 2009).

The researchers compared measurements after 2 weeks of an usual-salt diet with a low-salt diet (1/3 of the salt) after 2 weeks in overweight and obese people with normal blood pressure. Blood pressure was also measured.

The results showed that the systolic blood pressure went down on the low-salt diet. What also improved was the endothelium-dependent vasodilation and it was concluded that salt reduction provides additional cardioprotective effects beyond blood pressure reduction.

Reference:

Dickinson KM, et al. Effects of a low-salt diet on flow-mediated dilation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb;89(2):485-90.

Reduce meat intake and live longer.

This may not be what you want to hear, but there are some interesting evidence why it makes sense to reduce the intake of red meat and processed meat.

The study reviewed here investigated the relations of red, white and processed meat intake to the risk for total and cause specific mortality (Sinha R, et al, 2009). This was a large study including half a million people aged 50-71 years with a follow up of 10 years. Multiple factors were calculated for, you can click on the reference below for specifics.

Main outcome measures included total mortality and deaths due to cancer, cardiovascular disease, injuries and sudden deaths, and all other causes.

The researchers concluded that red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality.

White meat from chicken, turkey and fish are better choices unless you are a vegetarian.

Reference:

Sinha R, et al. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):562-71.