NEW studies have confirmed that red meat consumption increases the risk of both stomach and esophageal cancer. The study conducted by researchers from the nonprofits World Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research, was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
Also, according to a study conducted by researchers from Boston University and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, regular soda consumption significantly increases women’s risk of gout.
Gout is a painful type of inflammatory arthritis that has become increasingly common in the past few decades.
The researchers in the red meat study questioned 494,979 U.S. residents between the ages of 50 and 71 about their lifestyle and diet habits, including consumption of red meat and their favored cooking methods, then followed them for approximately 10 years.
They found that after adjusting for potentially confounding factors such as age, exercise, smoking and weight, participants who ate the most red meat had a 79 per cent higher risk of developing a cancer of the upper esophagus known as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Participants who ate the most food containing higher levels of one type of heterocyclic amine (HCA) had a 44 per cent higher risk of a cancer of the upper stomach known as gastric cardia.
HCAs are carcinogens formed when meat is cooked at high temperature. The HCA monitored in the study is called DiMelQx.
Prior studies looking for a link have had mixed results because they failed to look at different varieties of stomach and esophageal cancer separately, the researchers said. No connection was found between red meat consumption and other such cancers, which have separate risk factors. Adenocarcinoma of the lower esophagus, for example, is more strongly linked to smoking and heavy drinking.
High red meat consumption has also been linked to other severe health problems, including heart disease and other forms of cancer.
The researchers in the soda and gout research studied 78,906 women who had taken part in the Nurses’ Health Study between 1984 and 2006 and who had no history of gout at the beginning of the study. They found that over the course of 22 years, women who consumed one serving of soda per day were 74 per cent more likely to develop gout than those who had less than one per month. Women who drank two or more servings of soda per day were 240 per cent more likely.
A connection between soda consumption and gout is not surprising because fructose, a component of sugar, causes the body to produce more uric acid. Uric acid buildup is the immediate cause of gout.
Sugary beverages are widely reviled by nutritionists as a source of empty calories that raises the risk of obesity and diabetes.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
How coffee, sex, smog trigger heart attack - Guardian Newspaper
A MAJOR analysis of data on potential triggers for heart attacks finds that many of the substances and activities Nigerians indulge in every day — coffee, alcohol, sex, even breathing — can all help spur an attack.
Because so many people are exposed to dirty air, air pollution while stuck in traffic topped the list of potential heart attack triggers, with the researchers pegging 7.4 percent of heart attacks to roadway smog.
But coffee was also linked to five percent of attacks, booze to another five percent, and pot smoking to just under one percent, the European researchers found.
Among everyday activities, exerting yourself physically was linked to 6.2 percent of heart attacks, indulging in a heavy meal was estimated to trigger 2.7 percent, and sex was linked to 2.2 percent.
The report was published in the February 24 online edition of The Lancet.
The researchers stressed that the risk for heart attack from any one of these factors to a particular person at any given time is extremely small. But spread out over the population, they can add up.
For example, air pollution is a minor trigger for heart attacks, but since so many people are exposed to smog, it triggers many more heart attacks than other more potent triggers, such as alcohol and cocaine.
Lead researcher and assistant professor of epidemiology at the Hasselt Centre for Environmental Sciences at Hasselt University in Diepenbeek, Belgium, Tim S. Nawrot, explained: “Small risks can be highly relevant if they are widely distributed in the population.”
In their research, Nawrot’s team looked at 36 studies examining environmental triggers for heart attacks. In their review, known as a meta-analysis, the researchers looked for common threads that could establish how these factors might rank in risk.
In terms of risk, the team found that air pollution increased a person’s risk of having a heart attack by just under five percent. In contrast, coffee increased the risk by 1.5 times, alcohol tripled the risk, and cocaine use increased the odds for heart attack 23-fold.
However, because only a small number of people in the entire population are exposed to cocaine, while hundreds of millions are exposed to air pollution daily, air pollution was estimated to cause more heart attacks across the population than cocaine.
Even emotional states can sometimes trigger a heart attack, the team found. For example, negative emotions in general were linked to almost four percent of heart attacks while anger, specifically, was linked to just over three percent. Even “good” emotional states were tied to 2.4 percent of heart attacks, the study authors noted.
Although exposure to secondhand smoke was not included in the analysis, the effects are probably of the same magnitude as air pollution, the authors added. Where bans on smoking in public places exist, the rate of heart attacks has dropped an average of 17 percent, they noted.
Because so many people are exposed to dirty air, air pollution while stuck in traffic topped the list of potential heart attack triggers, with the researchers pegging 7.4 percent of heart attacks to roadway smog.
But coffee was also linked to five percent of attacks, booze to another five percent, and pot smoking to just under one percent, the European researchers found.
Among everyday activities, exerting yourself physically was linked to 6.2 percent of heart attacks, indulging in a heavy meal was estimated to trigger 2.7 percent, and sex was linked to 2.2 percent.
The report was published in the February 24 online edition of The Lancet.
The researchers stressed that the risk for heart attack from any one of these factors to a particular person at any given time is extremely small. But spread out over the population, they can add up.
For example, air pollution is a minor trigger for heart attacks, but since so many people are exposed to smog, it triggers many more heart attacks than other more potent triggers, such as alcohol and cocaine.
Lead researcher and assistant professor of epidemiology at the Hasselt Centre for Environmental Sciences at Hasselt University in Diepenbeek, Belgium, Tim S. Nawrot, explained: “Small risks can be highly relevant if they are widely distributed in the population.”
In their research, Nawrot’s team looked at 36 studies examining environmental triggers for heart attacks. In their review, known as a meta-analysis, the researchers looked for common threads that could establish how these factors might rank in risk.
In terms of risk, the team found that air pollution increased a person’s risk of having a heart attack by just under five percent. In contrast, coffee increased the risk by 1.5 times, alcohol tripled the risk, and cocaine use increased the odds for heart attack 23-fold.
However, because only a small number of people in the entire population are exposed to cocaine, while hundreds of millions are exposed to air pollution daily, air pollution was estimated to cause more heart attacks across the population than cocaine.
Even emotional states can sometimes trigger a heart attack, the team found. For example, negative emotions in general were linked to almost four percent of heart attacks while anger, specifically, was linked to just over three percent. Even “good” emotional states were tied to 2.4 percent of heart attacks, the study authors noted.
Although exposure to secondhand smoke was not included in the analysis, the effects are probably of the same magnitude as air pollution, the authors added. Where bans on smoking in public places exist, the rate of heart attacks has dropped an average of 17 percent, they noted.
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