Farewell to a Brave Man
I’m not the greatest fan of rugby union, but I can remember Andy Ripley in his pomp. Andy has just died after a long and valiant battle against prostate cancer. He will be remembered for a long time.
Mixed Messages on Cancer
A new and authoritative report says that eating five portions of vegetables a day does not protect you from cancer, as much as was thought.
Eating more fruit and vegetables has only a modest effect on protecting against cancer, a study into the link between diet and disease has found.
The study of 500,000 Europeans joins a growing body of evidence undermining the high hopes that pushing “five-a-day” might slash Western cancer rates.
The international team of researchers estimates only around 2.5% of cancers could be averted by increasing intake.
It two and a half percent benefit is worth having, but it’s not great.
Now what is interesting in these findings is that some research has shown that diagnosed coeliacs have a lower risk of cancer than normal. It could be argued that this was due to the fact that coeliacs tend to eat well and generally eat lots of unprocessed meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.
But perhaps we should all adhere to the last two paragraphs of the article.
Yinka Ebo of Cancer Research UK said: “It’s still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw.
“There are many things we can do to lower our chances of developing cancer such as not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, cutting down on alcohol, eating a healthy balanced diet, being physically active and staying safe in the sun.”
I do all of those things. They also supposedly protect you from strokes.
I blame the genes. After all my father and grandfather died before their time and my wife and son both died from cancer at early ages.
Death of my Son
My youngest son died yesterday from pancreatic cancer, at just 37. He passed away peacefully at home with friends and family.
I shall always remember how he bore his illness very bravely and always thought of others, despite the fact he only had days to live. The support from the local surgery, district nurses and Macmillan was impeccable and meant he was at least as comfortable as possible.
Nothing I can say will really make any difference.
Pancreatic cancer is an awful disease for which there appears to little chance of any progress towards a cure. I do have hope though and it is my wife’s and my old University of Liverpool, that is one of the leaders in this fight.
Read more about their work here.
Power to the Computer Programmer
I’m impressed by the article in The Times about the new scanner at the London Chest Hospital. The cost of each scan is around £500 which might seem a lot, but if it can detect a problem that saves a life, it’s peanuts! Incidentally, in its previous incarnation, this hospital was Bart’s, who did a wonderful job on my mother-in-law. And did it twice!
I’m also pleased that the next scanner goes in at my local hospital, Addenbrooke’s.
We will be seeing a lot more devices like this. Some will be big and massively expensive and will be limited to regional centres like Addenbrooke’s. I’d always prefer to travel to get the best treatment.
But think next time you are in the GP’s surgery. He, or in my case she, has massive levels of computing power on their desk. Could we not see equipment plugged into the USB ports on their computer to scan for such things as skin cancer?
I’m too old at 62 to develop ideas like that, but I know there are programmers out there who can create applications like that. The rewards would be massive for worthwhile applications.
Go and create!
The Power of Magnets
It may be simple in essence, but it does look that it might not be so simple to make work. On the other hand, if it does it could be a spectacular breakthrough in the fight against cancer. Effectively, you induce ferrous nanoparticles to lodge in the cancerous cells and then you blast them with a strong magnetic field. This raises their temperature and kills them.
For a more detailed (and better) explanation see The Times.
I do rather have this belief that the big breakthroughs in medicine in the future will come by combining the best of medicine, with the best of engineering, physics, chemistry and many more disciplines.
Cooked Meats and Cancer
The World Cancer Research Fund are now saying that cooked meats, such as ham and salami and bacon, can cause cancer and should be banned from lunch boxes.
They have form in this area and have been warning for some time. Do I eat much cooked meats? Not really, as I possibly eat them once or twice a month. I did eat a bit more at the weekend, but it was my party.
They also provoked this blast from the Daily Mail. I’ve read that and that perhaps says one important thing and that is moderation in all things.
But what is missing from all of this research and rants is any degree of statistical sense.
We could take a silly example, which states that if you spend all your time on a computer, playing computer games as a child that this is bad for your health. Other research could also say that playing on railway tracks is also bad. They both probably are, but the second is many times more dangerous than the first and people these days tend to lump everything as equally bad.
Now my worry about this “ham sandwich is bad for you” scare is that I’ve never seen any relative risk information compared to say cigarettes, obesity, excessive drinking or spending eight hours a day on a sunbed. So you get the obese smoker giving up cooked meats as his bit towards better health.
So what are the relative risks?
The best book on the subject is The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. He analyses the risks and prints them in detail. Everyone should read his book. You may not agree with everything he says, but it will certainly make you think.
But bear in mind one thing; if you want to live a long time, you can increase your chances by not smoking, eating a good diet, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight. I do all four. But then so did my late wife and she died at fifty-nine!
One point about diet is that diagnosed coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a twenty-five percent less chance of cancer. That more than mitigates the bad affects of a ham sandwich in gluten-free bread.
Jerri Neilsen FitzGerald
Sad to see that this courageous doctor has died.
She gave herself a biopsy without anaesthetic, whilst working as a doctor at the South Pole and then treated herself for breast cancer. Just like my wife, she got over the cancer and returned to work. Jerri became a motovational speaker and carried on until the cancer took her in the end.
She is quoted as saying this.
It doesn’t matter how or when you die. The only thing that matters is, did you ever live?
I’ll go with that and I’ll give her a toast tonight, when I have my evening glass of wine. Or two!
