LungBlog

You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times – the big three things you can do to prevent cancer are eat right, exercise, and don’t smoke cigarettes. But according to a new study, many people don’t think that there’s much of anything they can do to prevent cancer. 

There is no cancer from which someone has not been cured. That hopeful message is one that inspired Gallup resident Kathleen Houlihan when she battled lung cancer in 1999, and it’s a message she continues to share with other cancer patients today.Houlihan and recent cancer patient Michael Sullivan recently talked about their years as smokers, their diagnosis with lung cancer, their fight against the disease and their messages for both smokers and nonsmokers alike.

Drinking wine is associated with a lower risk of developing lung cancer, according to a meta-analysis published in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiological Markers & Prevention. Those who consume more than one serving of beer or spirits in any amount, however, were found to have an elevated risk.

The preventive effect of apples is not, however, limited to digestive tract cancers. A study conducted among 125,000 Americans showed people who regularly consumed one apple a day had 20 per cent less chances of developing lung cancer. A similar protection has also been observed in Finland.

Researchers are adding to the list of cancer types for which pomegranates seem to halt growth. A recent study using a mouse model shows that consuming pomegranates could potentially help reduce the growth and spread of lung cancer cells or even prevent lung cancer from developing.

Lightening up instead of lighting up is the best thing to do to fight lung cancer. New research shows that giving up smoking can reduce the risk of dying from the disease by up to 70 percent.

On the one-year anniversary of the death of actress Dana Reeve, a non-smoker who died from lung cancer, the American Lung Association of Michigan (ALAM) is urging women to be attentive to their lungs, regardless of their smoking history.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Pennsylvania have reported that physical activity may reduce the risk of developing lung cancer in current and former smokers. The details of this study appeared in the December 2006 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

There may be another reason for pregnant and nursing women to eat a nutritious diet that includes generous amounts of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage – it could help protect their children from cancer, both as infants and later in life.

As the winter chill sets in, Americans are settling into their warm, cozy homes. But those houses may be filled with more than holiday joy this season. They also may hold polluted air.