High meat consumption linked to cancers
A quarter-pound hamburger or a small pork chop eaten daily could put you at increased risk for a variety of cancers, U.S. government health researchers report.
The more red meat and processed meat you eat, the greater your risk, the researchers from the National Cancer Institute concluded.
“Red and processed meats have been associated with an elevated risk with colorectal cancer. We investigated whether this association was also evident for cancers at other anatomic sites,” explained lead author Amanda Cross of the National Cancer Institute.
For the study, red meats included beef, pork and lamb. Processed meats included bacon, red-meat sausage, poultry sausage, luncheon meats, cold cuts, ham and hot dogs.
Overall, the researchers found elevated risks for colorectal and lung cancer with high consumption of both meat types along with borderline higher risks for advanced prostate cancer. High red meat intake also was associated with increased risk of esophageal and liver cancer and a borderline increased risk for laryngeal cancer. High processed-meat consumption also was associated with borderline increased risk for bladder cancer and myeloma, a bone cancer.
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Blood pressure suspected in brain drain
High blood pressure may be associated with increased risk for mild cognitive impairment, says a study by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. The scientists followed 918 Medicare recipients aged 65 and older who were assessed every 18 months for an average of 4.7 years. None of the participants had mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study, but 334 of them developed the condition during the study period, and hypertension proved to be a factor in all types of the condition.
The researchers concluded that “preventing and treating hypertension may have an important impact in lowering the risk of cognitive impairment.”
The mechanism by which blood pressure affects the risk of cognitive impairment or dementia remains unclear.
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Medicare patients shrug off free colonoscopies
Most Americans in Medicare aren’t being screened for colorectal cancer, a major killer, though the screening is free, a new study finds.
In fact, the percentage of enrollees in Medicare, the federal health insurance program for older Americans, getting screening tests such as colonoscopies has declined since the program began paying for them, the study said.
An assessment of 153,469 Medicare members identified in 1998 found that 29.2 percent of them were screened for colorectal cancer between 1991 and 1997, when Medicare began paying for screening tests. Only 25.4 percent were screened between 1998 and 2004, after screening was covered by Medicare, the study found.
Failure to get those tests costs lives, said study author Dr. Gregory Cooper, interim chief of gastroenterology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. “We know that the survival curve is strongly related to the state at which the cancer is diagnosed,” he said. “For the mostly fairly healthy people in this cohort, early detection would bring a benefit.”
