<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<recommendedContent xmlns="http://api.mspoke.com">
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_440"
                     title="Soft Drinks Linked to Pancreatic Cancer Risk (CME/CE)"
                     score="0.014"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/tb/18354?impressionId=1265804903317"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;Regular consumers of sugary soft drinks are at higher risk for pancreatic cancer than fruit juice drinkers or the general population, a new Singaporean study has found.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Chinese men and women living in Singapore who drank two or more soft drinks per week were 87% more likely to contract pancreatic cancer after the researchers adjusted for factors such as smoking (95% CI 1.10 to 3.15), according to the report published Feb. 8 in &lt;em&gt;Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &amp;amp; Prevention.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;In this large prospective cohort of Chinese men and women in Singapore, those who reported regular soft drink consumption were at increased risk of pancreatic cancer when compared with those who largely abstained,&quot; Mark Pereira, PhD, of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, and colleagues wrote. &quot;There was no association between consumption of juice and risk of pancreatic cancer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, it is one of the most deadly cancers, with less than 5% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. Although rates have generally plateaued in the U.S., they continue to climb in some Asian countries, including Singapore.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;This increase may reflect demographic and socioeconomic shifts as well as a transition towards a more westernized lifestyle and diet,&quot; the authors wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Research has shown that insulin promotes pancreatic cancer cell growth, and some researchers think sugary foods could result in blood sugar and insulin fluctuations that expose the pancreas to high concentrations of insulin.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While fruit juices contain sugar, soft drinks are the major sources of added sugar in the U.S. diet and major contributors to hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pereira and colleagues followed 60,524 men and women who enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health Study between April 1993 and December 1998 and were followed for 14 years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At enrollment, the participants completed a 146-question food frequency questionnaire, which contained three items related to soft drinks and juice. The questions asked the participants how much, if any, they drank of soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and 7-Up, orange juice, and other fruit and vegetable juices.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The dietary data was later cross-referenced with records from the Singapore Cancer Registry and the Singapore Registry of Births and Deaths, to determine which of the participants had died of pancreatic cancer and whether it might be related to their soft drink or juice consumption.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, researchers found that 140 participants had contracted pancreatic cancer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The results were largely consistent with three of four previous U.S. studies on the links between pancreatic cancer and soft drinks. Three of the U.S. studies found an association between soft drinks and cancer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The author acknowledged that soft drink consumers are more likely than abstainers to participate in other unhealthy behaviors, including smoking and overeating, which makes it difficult to determine that soft drink consumption is an independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For instance, smokers in their study were at higher risk for pancreatic cancer. &quot;We could not rule out the possibility of residual confounding by factors associated with the habit of drinking soft drinks or other unascertained factors such as waist circumference,&quot; they wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They also noted that the study was limited in statistical power because pancreatic cancer is rare, which limited the sample size of cancer cases. &quot;Also, because we were unable to collect repeated dietary measurements in this study, we were unable to account for changes in consumption of soft drinks and juices,&quot; they wrote, &quot;especially when the diagnosis of diabetes occurred after the baseline interview.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The authors reported no financial conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_431"
                     title="Down a Beer to Improve Bone Health? Not So Fast"
                     score="0.013"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/tb/18347?impressionId=1265804903317"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;A flagon of ale may indeed be a good source of dietary silicon, a recent study showed, but experts say any attempt to link beer drinking to bone health is not based on scientific data.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The study of 100 commercial beers in the February issue of the &lt;em&gt;Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture&lt;/em&gt;, by Charles Bamforth, PhD, DSc, and Troy Casey, of the University of California Davis, examined the silicon content that results from different ingredients and brewing processes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although a press release issued with the study prominently mentioned the link between silicon and bone health, the study itself did not look at bone mineral density or analyze any patient data at all, according to several researchers contacted by &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt; and ABC News.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The authors wrote that they explored the silicon content in beer because the popular beverage has been identified as one of the richest potential sources of dietary silicon in the Western diet. The average intake is 20 to 50 mg/day.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The beers sampled contained an average of 29.4 mg/L of silicon, with a range of 6.4 to 56.4 mg/L. Beers made from a barley-based grist (as opposed to wheat-based beers ) and brews containing more hops had the highest silicon levels.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The beer type with the overall highest silicon level was India Pale Ale, with an average of 41.2 mg/L. Other ales came in second with 32.8 mg/L.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nonalcoholic beers, light lagers, and wheat beers had the least silicon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the end, the authors concluded that &quot;beer is a substantial source of silicon in the diet&quot; and that &quot;beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon,&quot; but they did not attempt to establish a link between beer drinking and bone health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Experts contacted for comment on the study also cautioned the public against establishing any such connection.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;To conclude any bone health benefits from this study would require a great leap,&quot; Tim Byers, MD, MPH, deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora, wrote in an e-mail.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Other researchers noted that previous studies have shown an association between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of fracture.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That&apos;s probably because of a greater chance of falling after drinking, according to Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, of the Harvard School of Public Health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In fact, Stephen Richardson, MD, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, noted that &quot;alcohol consumption is a risk factor for osteoporosis.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still, there is some evidence supporting a positive link between overall dietary silicon and bone health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A 2004 cross-sectional study in the &lt;em&gt;Journal of Bone and Mineral Research&lt;/em&gt; that used data from the Framingham Offspring cohort found a significant association between greater dietary silicon intake, including that from beer, and higher bone mineral density in the hip in men and premenopausal women.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The researchers concluded: &quot;These findings suggest that higher dietary silicon intake in men and younger women may have salutary effects on skeletal health, especially cortical bone health, that has not been previously recognized.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another study by the same group published last year in the &lt;em&gt;American Journal of Clinical Nutrition&lt;/em&gt; found that moderate consumption of alcohol, including beer, wine, and liquor, was associated with higher bone mineral density in men and postmenopausal women.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, it also showed that men who drank too much liquor were more likely to have lower spine and hip bone mineral density.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The relationship between beer and bone mineral density appeared to be mediated by silicon, the researchers concluded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bottom line: considering the increased fracture risk and the various other problems associated with drinking too much alcohol, experts agree that guzzling beer is not strategy for improving bone health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;In the absence of bone density values or preferably fracture incidence, it would be premature to tout beer as a preventative or treatment,&quot; Richardson said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;David Katz, MD, MPH, of the Yale School of Public Health, agreed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is NOT a reason to drink beer,&quot; he said in an e-mail. &quot;This is simply a bit of good news for those who do drink beer already  --  yours truly among them!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The authors did not make any financial disclosures.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This article was developed in collaboration with ABC News. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/upload/2009/10/1/14357_1.jpg&quot; mce_src=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/upload/2009/10/1/14357_1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_19_704"
                     title="Red Wine or White? No Difference for Breast Cancer Risk"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/tb/13145?impressionId=1265804903317"
                     
      SEATTLE, March 9 -- A glass or two of Chianti each day may be no better for breast cancer risk than Chardonnay, researchers found.
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;Unlike prevention of cardiovascular disease -- which is linked more strongly to red wine -- the color of the wine women drink makes no difference in breast cancer risk, according to population-based, case-control study in the March issue of &lt;em&gt;Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention&lt;/em&gt;.
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;Although total alcohol intake consumption equal to two or more drinks per day significantly increased breast cancer risk in the study, wine alone had neither a protective or harmful effect, Polly A. Newcomb, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center here, and colleagues reported. 
              &lt;br&gt; 
              &lt;br&gt;Prior studies have also found increased breast cancer risk for women with moderate alcohol consumption. In one large British study published last week, breast cancer was the greatest risk associated with alcohol intake among women, increasing by 11 cases per 1,000 to age 75 with every additional drink.  (See: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/BreastCancer/13020&quot; target=&quot;blank&quot;&gt;Even a Few Drinks a Week Increases Cancer Risk in Women&lt;/a&gt;)
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;However, balancing the various health effects of moderate alcohol intake is a complicated matter, further muddled by the various definitions of &quot;in moderation,&quot; commented Elizabeth A. Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H., of Johns Hopkins, who was not involved in the study.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;&quot;The bottom line is drinking too much is not good for women in general, and it&apos;s not safe from an accident perspective,&quot; she said. &quot;What&apos;s the safe amount? Well, it depends on one&apos;s risk profile. . . for cancer versus cardiovascular disease.&quot;
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Guidelines from some organizations, including the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society, recommend no more than two drinks a day for men and no more than one a day for women.  
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Some studies have attempted to sort out the effects of wine versus beer and other spirits, but few have examined whether red and white wine might differ in impact on breast cancer.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;So Dr. Newcomb&apos;s group interviewed 6,327 breast cancer cases from population-based registries in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire along with 7,558 age-matched controls selected from driver&apos;s license and Medicare beneficiary rosters.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Although 82% of women in both groups reported drinking in the prior year, breast cancer cases were 24% more likely to drink 14 or more alcoholic beverages per week after multivariable adjustment (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;=0.003 for trend).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;This risk appeared limited to postmenopausal women (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;=0.05 for interaction).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Although higher intake of all types of alcohol tended to increase risk, the only significant association was with liquor (odds ratio 1.02 per drink, 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.03), which appeared to be driving the overall association.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Notably, wine did not increase breast cancer risk significantly overall (OR 1.01 per drink, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.02) or in the highest consumption group (OR 1.37 for 14 or more glasses per week versus nondrinkers, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.91).
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;Neither red nor white wine were significant risks, either incrementally or at the highest consumption levels.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;The difference they observed is plausible, the researchers said. Red wine has a higher concentration of the polyphenol resveratrol shown to be anticarcinogenic in mouse mammary cell cultures.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;However, this compound is metabolized quickly and may not be in high enough concentration for long enough to be bioeffective in humans during moderate drinking, Dr. Newcomb&apos;s group suggested.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;They also noted that the study may have been limited by self-reported, retrospective intake measurements, and by lack of data on behavioral patterns such as binge drinking.
              &lt;p&gt; 
              &lt;p&gt;&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; hspace=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;border-style:solid; border-width:1px; border-color:#8dabbc; font-family:arial; font-size:12px; background-color:#DBE9F2; padding:5px 5px 5px 5px;&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt; The researchers reported no conflicts of interest. Dr. Platz reported no conflicts of interest.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_3_181"
                     title="Long-Term Low-Protein Diet Reduces Markers of Cancer Risk"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="