Eating fruit and vegetables does little to help people avoid cancer, say researchers. Despite public health messages about the benefits of ‘five a day’, a major study shows it has a ‘very weak’ effect on preventing cancer. Campaigners stress that a diet high in fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of obesity, a major cause of cancer, and is good for the heart. But a study of almost 500,000 people found eating five portion ... Jump to full article >>

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Cigarette smoking may increase a man’s risk for developing and dying from prostate cancer, pooled data from 24 studies involving 21,600 men with the disease indicates. This study “provides good evidence that prostate cancer is likely a smoking-related tumor,” Dr. Michael Huncharek, at Meta-Analysis Research Group in Columbia, South Carolina, wrote in an email to Reuters Health. Prostate cancer is the most common of all cancers s ... Jump to full article >>

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The study of 494 children showed that those with higher levels of exposure to secondhand smoke from ages 8 to 13 had, by age 13, significantly increased blood vessel wall thickness and functioning problems, both of which are precursors to arterial structural changes and hardening. Greater exposure to tobacco smoke also was associated with higher levels of apolipoprotein B (apoB), a component of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” c ... Jump to full article >>

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The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to protect the public’s health and safety. So why is it trying to block the sale of an electronic alternative to cigarettes that can save people’s lives by simulating smoking without burning tobacco? Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine in a vapor composed mainly of the food additive propylene glycol. There’s no question ... Jump to full article >>

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Older moms are more likely to have a child with autism than women who give birth at a younger age, new research shows. Researchers from University of California, Davis, looked at records for the nearly 5 million births in California between 1990 and 1999, a decade in which autism incidence increased 600 percent statewide. A woman’s risk of having a child diagnosed with autism rose by 18 percent for each five-year increment in her age, according ... Jump to full article >>

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A new study offers yet more proof that smoking is a major risk factor for death from heart disease and cancer. Researchers followed 12,152 American and European male and female smokers, formers smokers and nonsmokers for three years. During that time, current smokers were 4.16 times more likely to die of cancer, 2.26 times more likely to die of heart disease and 2.58 times more likely to die from any cause than were former or nonsmokers. Current ... Jump to full article >>

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