Health impact of soft drinks is proved again. A recent study showed excessive soda drinking increased the risk of pancreatic cancer nearly doubled.

Research carried out the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC, United States show for those who drank soda at least two times a week, 87 per cent more at risk of experiencing a fatal pancreatic cancer than those who rarely consume sodas.

“People who drink two times or more soft drinks per week had an increased risk of 87 percent or almost twice the risk of pancreatic cancer compared with individuals who do not consume soft drinks,” said the study’s lead author, Noel T Mueller MPH, a researcher at The Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC, United States, as quoted by WebMD.

The study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a scientific journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Soft drinks companies respond immediately about these results. They stated that research directly disclose defects and other research that found that there was no link between soda consumption and pancreatic cancer.

In this study, Mueller and his colleagues conduct ongoing evaluation for 14 years on 60,524 men and women enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. The study began in 1993 when researchers noted what they eat and whether it will suffer from cancer.
The researchers asked the participants to tell him what he ate, including soft drinks and fruit juices. However, Mueller said, researchers did not ask specifically about their dietary consumption, but most of them drank regular soda.

In Singapore at that time, Mueller explained, looking very little intake of soda in the community. “We followed the participants for 14 years. And each time a different record the cancer, “he said. The result, researchers recorded 140 cases occurred pancreatic cancer and began to look back to see if anything to do with the consumption of soda or fruit juice.

The researchers divided consumption of soda and juice into three categories, they are, do not drink at all, less than two times per week and two times or more a week. In conclusion, those who drank soda two times or more in a week the average number of five-year-old has a 87 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

However, it was found that there was no relationship between fruit juice consumption and the risk of pancreatic cancer. So why soda can relate? He admitted it needs to be studied further. “However, what we believe is the sugar in soft drinks can increase insulin levels in the body, which we consider to contribute to the growth of pancreatic cancer cells. Increased insulin may lead to cancer development, “said Mueller.

Even so, the researchers believe the risk of pancreatic cancer increases if other factors, such as advanced age, smoking, diabetes, and body mass index is associated with obesity. Pancreatic cancer risk increases as your age.

With this result, the soft drinks industry immediately launched a protest. “This study has many weaknesses in it,” said Richard Adamson, PhD, scientific consultant of the American Beverage Association in Washington, DC, United States. For example, according to Adamson, his little case of pancreatic cancer experienced by participants. He showed the 140 cases, 110 of these people do not drink soda at all, while the other 12 people eat less than twice a week and another 18 two times or more servings a week.

“This means that only a small number of cases of pancreatic cancer compared with the population studied,” he said. Other studies also, he added, did not find the relationship between soda and pancreatic cancer. The American Beverage Association points to a study in 2008 which found no such relationship. The study also only focused on the consumption of soft drinks, but did not see the overall dietary pattern. “You can be a healthy person and enjoy soft drinks without feeling anxious,” Adamson added.

Susan Mayne, PhD, Director of Yale Cancer Center and professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, say, the results of the study is “interesting” because of small cases that found that does not prove direct causality. In fact, he included members of the editorial board of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. This study itself was funded the National Cancer Institute.

Colonel Laurence N MD, PhD, a researcher at the Cancer Research Center and professor of public health at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, said although the new study has limitations, but these findings relate to previous research. He and his colleagues say there is a relationship between added sugars in foods and the risk of pancreatic cancer. The results of this study was published in 2007. “In our study, found a positive relationship between high intake of fructose and pancreatic cancer,” he said. “Since high fructose corn syrup is the main sweetener of non-diet soft drinks, our findings and the latest study is quite consistent,” he said.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the 11 types of cancer most common in the UK. In the United States, according to the American Cancer Society, in 2009 about 42,000 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 35,240 of them died. This cancer claimed claimed 7700 lives every year.

The life expectancy of people with only 19 per cent per year. Of 100 people, patients who lived only 19 people. Meanwhile, who has a life expectancy over 5 years is only 4 percent. Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze and tenor Luciano Pavarotti is famous patient who died of pancreatic cancer.

Many people are afraid to drink coffee because it is considered to be quite dangerous for the heart. But coffee turnes out to hearth friendly. Coffee only gives a small effect on hypertension patients and is still quite tolerable.

The discovery made by heart researchers can make coffee drinkers in love. The results of this study were presented at a conference this week the American Heart Association (AHA) in San Francisco.

Coffee drinkers have a lower risk for abnormal heart rhythm disease. There is no indication that drinking a cup of coffee a day will increase the risk of atherosclerosis or thickening of blood vessel walls that can cause heart attacks.

In addition, other ingredients in coffee other than caffeine may reduce the risk of diabetes for women who regularly drink.

But not all reports on the AHA’s annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism were really a good news for coffee lovers.

One report found a potential link between drinking coffee and high blood pressure. But do not worry, the effect is described as very simple or minimal.

A study of the heart’s rhythm by examining the 130,054 members of Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program who has been treated in the hospital because of heart rhythm disturbances. Approximately 2 percent of those hospitalized for the disorder and the most common is the problem of atrial fibrillation.

Dr Arthur Klatsky, a senior cardiac consultant who led the study, said those who reported drinking 4 cups of coffee per day has an 18 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who do not drink coffee.

“It may be a surprise, because some people are afraid to drink coffee. And I do not think we’ll be ready to tell the people that they should drink coffee to prevent heart rhythm problems,” Klatsky said, as reported by USNews, Friday (5 / 3 / 2010).

This study does not give a reason why coffee may reduce heart rhythm problems. According to Klatsky, it could be because the coffee drinkers are on a diet or exercises more. But we also can not say with certainty that the coffee was not associated with minor (mild) heart rhythm problems which does not require hospital treatment.

In essence, coffee lovers do not need to stop drinking coffee just because they have problems with heart rhythm.

Another study that followed more than 3 000 men and women aged 20 years also found no relationship between coffee consumption and atherosclerosis for men and women whether black or white, smokers or nonsmokers. Participants in this study are people who do not consume coffee more than 4 cups a day.

“Based on these data, it seems that there is no substantial relationship between drinking coffee with an increase or decrease in atherosclerosis,” said Jared Reis, an epidemiologist at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The third study, based on reports from the Women’s Health Study, explained that coffee drinkers experienced less diabetes type 2 (diabetes as a lifestyle).

Researchers compared 359 postmenopausal women newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 359 women without the disease. The results showed that women who drank 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day are 56 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than those who do not drink coffee.

“What seems to reduce the risk from the effects of caffeine because a hormone binding protein,” said Dr. Liwei Chen, assistant professor of the University of California, Los Angeles. But according to Chen’s initial findings it still requires further study.

Other reports to ensure the consumption of 1-3 cups of coffee a day affects only slightly increased risk of high blood pressure comes from Dr. Liwei Chen, assistant professor of epidemiology at Louisiana State University School of Public Health. He uses data from six studies that included more than 172,000 participants.

“Based on our results, for the long-term coffee drinking may have a risk factor for hypertension, but the effect is not too big,” said Chen.

But Chen also suggested, that it is important for people to reduce consumption of coffee,  if you are worried about blood pressure.

John Cannell, MD, Executive Director of The Vitamin D Council, reports on the Vitamin D Conference in Victoria.

The Vitamin D Conference just finished in Victoria was nothing short of spectacular. On the bus into Victoria, I met a representative from the National Cancer Institute whose job was simple: her bosses at the NIH wanted to know if they should fund the flood of grant requests about vitamin D. Given the quality of the papers presented, I can’t imagine her answer was anything but yes.

Dr. Tony Norman and Dr. Roger Bouillon, the conference organizers, had to choose from over 300 submissions from scientists around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Diabetes is a problem that affects so many people, both in the U.S. and worldwide, surprisingly, however, very little is known about the disease.

There are a number of organizations that are researching exactly what causes diabetes, as well new and better methods for controlling it, monitoring blood sugar levels, getting insulin into the blood, newer medicines to correct the problems and even how to stop it before it starts.

There are numerous groups and organizations involved in research such as the FDA, Read the rest of this entry »

One of the pioneers of the diet revolution in the early part of 2000 is the Atkins Diet, a program created by cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins for the patients of his private clinic. Because it is so very effective, the diet program has since evolved to include famous celebrities as part of its millions of followers. Read the rest of this entry »