Cancer Archive

A healthy diet should go heavy on vegetables and skip alcohol, sugary drinks, and processed foods.

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Most of the time when someone gets cancer, it's because of bad genes or bad luck. But as many as four in 10 cancers may be preventable. And diet likely plays an important role in reducing (or increasing) your risk.

It's no surprise that vegetables and fruits are thought to reduce cancer risk, according to Teresa Fung, adjunct professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and faculty editor of Healthy Eating, a Special Health Report from Harvard Health Publishing (available at www.health.harvard.edu/special-health-reports). It probably also won't shock you to learn that bacon, fast food, and sugary drinks fall into the opposite category. But how can you know for sure which foods to eat and which to avoid?

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Research we're watching

For years, many have speculated that taking vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements might help to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and certain cancers. But a study by Harvard researchers published online November 10, 2018, by The New England Journal of Medicine has found that the benefits may be more limited than originally hoped.

The results of the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), which enrolled more than 25,000 people and ran for more than five years, showed that while omega-3 supplements did appear to reduce the risk of heart attack, particularly among African Americans, they did not appear to be effective in preventing stroke or cancer. Vitamin D supplements also saw few benefits when it came to preventing heart attack, stroke, or cancer — but they were associated with a drop in cancer deaths in people who had taken the supplements for at least a year or two.

Ask the doctor

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Q. A friend has melanoma, and his doctor wants to use a new kind of treatment that boosts the immune system. Can you tell me more?

A. The immune system exists to attack foreign things that enter the body, such as germs. Certain cells of the immune system recognize and attack foreign things. Cancerous cells make chemicals that are not made by normal cells, chemicals the immune system should recognize as foreign. Unfortunately, eight million people around the globe die of cancer each year after their immune systems fail to destroy the cancer. Why do their immune systems fail?

Research we're watching

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Anti-inflammatory medications may play a role in ovarian cancer risk. A study by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that taking low-dose aspirin regularly appears to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 23%. However, long-term heavy use of ibuprofen (Advil), naproxen (Aleve), and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) seems to increase risk.

The study, published online October 4 by JAMA Oncology, looked at data on more than 200,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II. Among the group studied, 1,054 women went on to develop ovarian cancer. Researchers then looked at what type of medications the women took on a regular basis. They found that women who took at least 10 doses of NSAIDs a week for multiple years had an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Women who took low-dose aspirin regularly seemed to have a reduced risk — but the same was not true among women who took a standard-dose aspirin.

Bleeding indicates cancer only in a small percentage of cases, even though endometrial cancers are on the rise in American women.

You've gone through menopause and you thought your periods were a thing of the past — but suddenly, you're bleeding again, more than a year after your last period.

Should you be concerned?

The good news according to an analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine, is that most likely your bleeding is caused by a noncancerous condition, such as vaginal atrophy, uterine fibroids, or polyps. But the study also reinforces the idea that postmenopausal bleeding should always be checked out by your doctor to rule out endometrial cancer, a cancer of the uterine lining, says Dr. Ross Berkowitz, William H. Baker Professor of Gynecology at Harvard Medical School.

In the journals

Following a specific cancer prevention diet may help you lower your overall risk, according to a study in the August 2018 Cancer Research.

The diet from the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) emphasizes a plant-based diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes like beans and lentils, with limited amounts of red or processed meat (no more than 18 ounces per week) and a strong emphasis on eliminating all processed foods, sugar-sweetened drinks, and alcohol.

Research we're watching

A test that screens for human papillomavirus (HPV) beat a commonly used cervical cancer screening method in detecting changes that may lead to cervical cancer, according to a study published July 3 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Some 19,000 women were screened for cervical cancer using either the HPV test or a more traditional and commonly used liquid-based cytology test. After 48 months, all the women were tested again using both tests. Researchers found that among women who'd had a normal initial screening, those who'd been screened with the HPV test had significantly fewer grade 3 or worse precancerous cervical changes at the final testing compared with those screened with liquid-based cytology.

In response, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force now recommends either HPV testing only once every five years or liquid-based cytology once every three years for women ages 30 to 65.

On call

Q. I was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Does the occurrence of one type of cancer indicate a greater risk of developing other kinds?

A. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, and almost every man will get prostate cancer if he lives long enough. In general, prostate cancer that develops after age 60 probably does not increase the risk of getting a different kind of cancer. However, there are some exceptions.