Teenagers who eat fruits and vegetables high in fiber may significantly lower their risk of developing breast cancer (a leading cause of death among Latinas), later on in life, according to a new study, CBS News reports. Researchers at Harvard’s T.H Chen School of Public Health analyzed data from 44,000 women and concluded that those who consumed about 28 grams of fiber a day “had a significantly lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared with those who said they ate less than 15 grams a day.” "The results of this study emphasize the role of an early life high-fiber diet on prevention of breast cancer in later life. High consumption of foods rich in fiber such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains in early life may help to reduce breast cancer incidence," lead ...
Why are racial/ethnic minority populations less likely than whites to get genetic testing, which can help a woman learn if she has an abnormal gene that is linked to higher breast cancer risk? The answer may lie in their attitudes toward genetic testing. Latina, black, Asian, Native American, and Appalachian women all had a generally positive attitude toward genetic testing, but several key differences emerged among these minority groups, according to a new study led by Dr. Amelie Ramirez of Redes En Acción, a national cancer research network based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The study, which sought to better understand attitudes toward genetic testing to guide development of culturally sensitive ...
Cancer is quickly becoming the No.1 killer in the United States and the leading cause of death among Latinos, Fox News reports. New health statistics show cancer is quickly overtaking heart disease as the top cause of death in the U.S., despite death rates falling in the last 25 years. According to government figures cancer is the “leading cause of death in certain groups of people, including Hispanics, Asians, and adults ages 40 to 79.” The American Cancer Society predicts there will be 1.7 million new cancer cases this year, and 600,000 deaths. “Government figures for 2014 show cancer was the leading cause of death in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, ...
A high-sugar diet doesn’t only increase the risk of obesity and diabetes, but it may also increase your risk of breast and lung cancer, The Houston Chronicle reports. For the study University of Texas M.D. Anderson researchers put mice in different groups and fed one of four diets. After six months the researchers concluded that mice on a starch diet “had measurable tumors, whereas 50 to 58 per cent of the mice on sucrose-enriched diets had developed mammary tumors.” The team of researchers also concluded that the risk of lung metastases was significantly higher in mice on the sucrose or fructose rich diet. "We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumor growth and metastasis, when compared to a non-sugar starch diet," said ...
Mexican researchers are beginning clinical trials of a treatment that could prevent the recurrence of different types of cancer, Latin Times reports. “The new therapy trains the immune system to recognize and eliminate remaining cancerous cells" after conventional treatment, team leader Dr. Juan Pablo Márquez Manriquez, of the International Cancer Center in Sonora, told EFE. In the early stages of their research Dr. Marquez and his team tested the vaccines on mice that were genetically modified to develop cancer. “The animals that received the vaccine, both individual vaccines and the cocktail, never developed colon, pancreatic or ovarian cancer,” Dr. Márquez explained. During clinical trials the treatment will be tested in Mexico City, Sonora and Ciudad ...
A false positive mammogram result may be an early indicator of future breast cancer, NBC Health reports. A study conducted by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, found “Women who got a false positive were 39 percent more likely to get breast cancer over the next 10 years than women who simply got a negative result on a mammogram.” "(These are) not entirely surprising findings as we have long known that women with benign breast disease on biopsy are at increased risk of developing breast cancer," Dr. Therese Beavers of the MD Anderson Cancer Center told NBC Health. The American Cancer Society recommends all women over the age of 45 to schedule an annual mammogram ...
A new risk-prediction breast cancer model based entirely on data from Latino women provides a more accurate assessment of Latina women's risk of developing breast cancer than existing models. The model presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) used data from the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study, “focused on 1,086 Latina women with breast cancer and 1,411 without breast cancer cancer.” "Currently, there is no breast cancer risk-prediction model for Hispanic women," said Matthew P. Banegas, PhD, MPH, investigator with Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, and primary author of the study. "We developed a model based on data on ethnicity, nativity, and breast cancer risk factors, as well as incidence and mortality rates in ...
Maria Huerta, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 32 years old. “You cannot imagine how your life can change in the snap of a finger. Well, mine did. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993. At the time I was caring for her I would say to myself, “Oh God, what would I do?” Little did I know I would go through it myself when I was diagnosed a year later at age 32,” Maria says. While she was taking a shower Maria discovered a lump and immediately told her mother and daughter. “At the time I was hurting financially and prayed to God that if it needed immediate attention to please provide the money so I could have it taken care of.” A few days later Maria was surprised by her employer with an envelope with money for her treatment. “I was devastated ...
When you’re 27 years old the last thing that crosses your mind are mammograms, breast self-examination and breast cancer. “My doctor had said I was too young to have a mammogram, so when I finally heard the breast cancer diagnosis after tests on my “cyst,” my whole body went numb. I didn’t have time for cancer; I was getting married. On December 5, 1997,” Tanya Enriquez says. Her honeymoon turned into a visit to the hospital to have 20 lymph nodes removed, and an aggressive chemotherapy treatment. Soon after her diagnosis Tanya met Marta Zuniga, a stage III breast cancer patient and later met Susan Coll, the three were known as the Three Muskateers. “We had a bond that not many shared. We were all under 30 and had breast cancer. We would talk, laugh, and go out to lunch, ...
