Exercise ‘Better Than Drugs’ To Stop Colon Cancer Returning
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
First study of its kind finds that an ‘exercise prescription’ can reduce the chances of colon cancer patients dying from a relapse by a third
These first two paragraphs add more detail.
Exercise can be “better than a drug” for reducing the risk of cancer returning, a study has found.
Patients with advanced colon cancer who received an “exercise prescription” after finishing their cancer treatment were found to be a third less likely to die from the disease.
I find these findings from the The CO21 Challenge trial, partially funded by Cancer Research UK’s Stand Up To Cancer fund, rather remarkable.
The research was led by Christian Booth, of Queen’s University in Canada, which illustrates the international nature of medical research.
On a third reading of the article, I noticed the full implications of this paragraph.
Alongside benefits for colon cancer, Booth said that fewer patients in the active group went on to develop breast cancer, suggesting that there may be an effect on other cancer types too. Of those who received an exercise prescription, only two went on to develop breast cancer, compared with 12 in the control group.
This could be a very significant study, that changes the treatment of cancer.
I’m Getting Fed Up Being Coeliac
I’m not getting fed up with the benefits.
- The inability to get serious doses of the covids, as was shown by the University of Padua and I documented in Risk Of COVID-19 In Celiac Disease Patients.
- The lower rate of cancer, compared to the general population as has been shown by Nottingham University.
- Coeliac diease and the B12 injections I take, indirectly helped my recovery from the stroke I had. But that was just luck!
I haven’t had a dose of the covids, but I have had all my vaccinations.
But increasingly, restaurant chains like Carluccio’s and Le Pain Quoitidien are closing only to be replaced by chains that don’t even pay lip-service to coeliacs.
Some chains, even treat being gluten-free as a fad. That is an insult to people like me and the doctors and other medical staff, who diagnosed us.
I’m getting feed up as more and more vcoeliac-friendly cafes and restaurants close.
Coeliac disease indirectly killed my son and probably my paternal grandfather and is present in at least 1-in-100 of the UK population.
We should identify all of those, who have the genes, using the genetic test, which is only a simple blood test costing a few pounds.
Indian Minister’s Health aAdvice: Lie In A Cowshed To Cure Cancer
The title of this post, is the same. as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Senior politician in Narendra Modi’s party says he drinks cow urine every morning to kill bacteria and eliminate negativity
These are the first three paragraphs.
The humble cow has long been venerated in India. Revered by Hindus, pictured with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and long used by his Bharatiya Janata Party to promote the leader’s own politically charged brand of nationalism, the animal plays a central part in Indian life.
That adoration could grow further after a senior politician claimed that cows could cure cancer.
Sanjay Singh Gangwar, 48, a BJP minister for sugarcane in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said patients could eradicate their symptoms simply by cleaning and lying down in a cowshed. They would be cured by the “positive aura and energy” of cows, the minister said.
When I found a peer-reviewed paper entitled Coeliac Disease: Can We Avert The Impending Epidemic In India?, I discussed it with my GP at the time, who was of part-Indian extraction, and I got a rant about Narendra Modi.
I now take anything Narendra Modi says with a very large dose of salt.
Gangwar’s advice doesn’t stop there.
These two paragraphs give more pearls of wisdom.
The health benefits of a cow do not end there, added Gangwar. He advocated drinking “filtered” cow urine — which he said he did every morning — and use cow dung as flooring in village homes. And anyone suffering from high blood pressure should simply stroke a cow — once in the morning and again in the evening.
“If a cancer patient starts cleaning a cowshed and lying there, even cancer can be cured,” he insisted as he inaugurated a cow shelter in the city of Pilibhit. “If you burn cow dung cakes, you get relief from mosquitoes. Everything that a cow produces is useful in some way.”
So to Gangwar, the global-warming methane, that cows emit is useful, but in what way?
Is Gangwar, Donald Trump’s long-lost Indian son from a dalliance in the country?
I Had My Fifth Endoscopy Yesterday And The Fourth Without A Sedative!
After two at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, this was my third endoscopy at Homerton in East London.
The most difficult part was not eating for eight hours before and only drinking water for four hours before.
I have mild anaemia and they were looking for cancer.
Luckily for me, they didn’t find any.
I did however lose nearly a kilo in weight.
Was that the diet or the long walk to the bus, which took me home?
Endoscopies At Homerton
On their information, they sent me, Homerton said they prefer to do endoscopies without a sedative.
I suppose it is more efficient, as Addenbrooke’s told me nearly thirty years ago.
Conclusion
I am certainly not worried about endoscopies and if your doctor says you have should one, make sure they talk you through it sensibly.
Years ago, I was on holiday in Capri and met a party of about six American gastroenterologists, who were horrified, that I had had two endoscopies without anaesthetic.
But then, I think they were more worried about the fees, that the anaesthetist didn’t get.
When Homerton investigated my gallstones, I said I’d be happy to undergo the procedure without a sedative, although, the specialist private surgeon, doing the procedure for the NHS, was accompanied by an anaesthetist. In the end the anaesthetist just stood by, in case he was needed and the surgeon did his first endoscopy without a sedative. He was very pleased with everyone’s performance including mine.
We Should All Raise A Glass To Sven
The BBC has a very matter-of-fact article on the death of Sven-Goran Eriksson, which is entitled Former England Manager Eriksson Dies Aged 76.
The article finishes with these words from Sven.
I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do.
“Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it.
There are no major fixtures today, but it will be interesting to see how he is remembered by fans, at the weekend!
Should All Hospital In-Patients Be Tested For Coeliac Disease?
I went to a medical lecture tonight and I came home on the tube with a cardiologist. As we chatted, the title of this post occurred to me.
Consider.
- A diagnosed coeliac on a gluten-free diet tends to have a stronger immune system.
- I am a diagnosed coeliac on a gluten-free diet.
- An undiagnosed coeliac tends to have a poor immune system.
- It would certainly mean, you got the right diet in hospital.
I also have some further more detailed thoughts.
My Son, George
NHS advice on those, who need to be tested for coeliac disease includes this sentence.
Testing is also recommended if you have a first-degree relative (parent, sibling or child) with coeliac disease.
When I was diagnosed as a coeliac in 1997, I told my three sons to get tested. None did!
A month or so before he did, George ended up in Trafford Park Hospital.
If they had tested him, would they have picked up his pancreatic cancer earlier?
Probably not, but it’s a question that must be asked.
Research From The University Of Padua
This paper on the US National Library of Medicine, which is from the University of Padua in Italy.
The University followed a group of 138 patients with coeliac disease, who had been on a gluten-free diet for at least six years, through the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Padua.
This sentence, sums up the study.
In this analysis we report a real life “snapshot” of a cohort of CeD patients during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Italy, all followed in one tertiary centre in a red area of Northern Italy. Our data show, in accordance with Emmi et al., the absolute absence of COVID-19 diagnosis in our population, although 18 subjects experienced flu-like symptoms with only one having undergone naso-pharyngeal swab.
It says that no test subject caught Covid-19, in an admittedly smallish number of patients.ost
But it reinforces my call for more research into whether if you are a diagnosed coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet, you have an immune system, that gives you a degree of protection from the Covids.
Conditions Linked To Coeliac Disease
This page on the Coeliac UK web site is entitled Conditions Linked To Coeliac Disease, has the following subsections.
- Autoimmune Disease
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
- Down’s and Turner Syndrome
- Osteoporosis
- Lactose Intolerance
- Lymphoma And Small Bowel Cancer
- Autism
- Fertility
Some of the keywords are linked to other pages on the Coeliac UK web site.
Testing For Coeliac Disease
Testing for coeliac disease is not an expensive process and just involves a simple blood test, where the blood goes to the lab.
My now-retired GP reckoned in nearly all cases, the test is decisive.
Study Highlights Increased Risk Of Second Cancers Among Breast Cancer Survivors
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news story from the Cambridge University.
This is the sub-heading.
Survivors of breast cancer are at significantly higher risk of developing second cancers, including endometrial and ovarian cancer for women and prostate cancer for men, according to new research studying data from almost 600,000 patients in England.
These are the first three paragraphs of the story.
For the first time, the research has shown that this risk is higher in people living in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Around 56,000 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, the vast majority (over 99%) of whom are women. Improvements in earlier diagnosis and in treatments mean that five year survival rates have been increasing over time, reaching 87% by 2017 in England.
People who survive breast cancer are at risk of second primary cancer, but until now the exact risk has been unclear. Previously published research suggested that women and men who survive breast cancer are at a 24% and 27% greater risk of a non-breast second primary cancer than the wider population respectively. There have been also suggestions that second primary cancer risks differ by the age at breast cancer diagnosis.
I have a few thoughts.
The Data
The story says this about the data.
To provide more accurate estimates, a team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed data from over 580,000 female and over 3,500 male breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1995 and 2019 using the National Cancer Registration Dataset. The results of their analysis are published today in Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
A large number of cases were analysed and with these types of analysis, more is definitely better.
I would hope that this study will be repeated in a few years, when more data is available.
The Death Of My Wife
This happened to my late wife.
At about 55 in 2004, my wife developed breast cancer. Strangely, it was in the same position, where a car air-bag had bruised her breast, when it went off in an accident, a few years before.
Chemotherapy was recommended and she tried one round at home, but she couldn’t get on with it.
So she eventually had a long course of radiotherapy in Harley Street going up every day on the train. She was also doing as many court cases as she could to pay for it all.
It appeared everything had worked well and in the Autumn of 2007, she was given the all clear for the breast cancer.
But in October 2007, she was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma of the heart.
She died in December 2007 at just 59.
My wife’s second cancer and her death seems to fit the pattern of the patients in the news story.
My Wife’s Genetic Background
This is rather bare, as she was adopted. Although, I do have her plaits from, when the cut them off at 18, as she’d kept them and I found them after she died.
But she didn’t come from a deprived background.
I Am Coeliac
If I have one regret, it’s that I didn’t encourage her to go gluten-free after the first cancer.
It might have boosted her immune system to help.
Conclusion
Anybody, who has breast cancer must beware a second attack of cancer.
Uf it can kill my fit 59-year-old wife, it can kill anyone.
Why Don’t Whales Get Cancer? Cracking One Of Medicine’s Greatest Mysteries
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Guardian.
This is the sub-heading.
Understanding why some animals are more susceptible to the disease could lead to improved screening for humans
These are the first three paragraphs
Scientists are homing in on one of medicine’s most baffling mysteries: why some species avoid getting cancers while others are plagued by tumours that shorten their lives.
Whales tend to have low rates of cancer but it is the leading cause of death for dogs and cats. Foxes and leopards are susceptible while sheep and antelopes are not. Bats are also relatively well protected against cancer but not mice or rats. In humans, cancer is a leading cause of death that kills around 10 million people a year.
Even more puzzling is the fact that many huge creatures, including whales and elephants, generally avoid cancer when, instead, they should be at special risk because they possess vast numbers of cells, each of which could trigger a tumour.
The article is definitely a must-read.
Binge Drinking And Obesity Behind Bowel Cancer Surge In Under-50s
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Deaths this year are set to be a third higher than in 2018 with biggest increase among young women
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Obesity and binge drinking are causing a surge in bowel cancer among young British adults, research shows.
Deaths in those aged under 50 are set to be about a third higher this year than in 2018, with the highest increase in young women.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, after breast and prostate cancers, and there are 43,000 new cases and 16,000 deaths a year. More than nine in ten cases are in those over 50, but the disease is increasingly being diagnosed in those under 50, in whom it is more likely to be aggressive and deadly.
I am coeliac and whenever, I see some illness that is more common in females, I wonder, if this is down to the fact, that female coeliacs are more common than males. This page on the NHS web site flags it up with this sentence.
Reported cases of coeliac disease are higher in women than men.
This could be because coeliac disease can cause complications in pregnancy, so more women get tested.
The NHS web site also links coeliacs with bowel cancer, but it does say this.
Once you’ve been following a gluten-free diet for some time, your risk of developing these types of cancer is the same as that of the general population.
My son was an undiagnosed coeliac, who worked in the music business. He lived on a diet of ciggies, cannabis and Subways and contracted pancreatic cancer, which killed him at just 37.
He should have got himself tested, as the NHS says, that if you have a first degree relative (Me!), who has coeliac disease, then you should get tested.
So if you think, you have a problem with gluten, get yourself tested!
If not for yourself for your family!
I am surprised that the Italian lead researcher doesn’t mention coeliac disease as Italy has lots of it! All that pasta and pizza!
The Anonymous Widower 