Sleeping With Lights On May Cause Cancer

KIDS who sleep with the light on could risk leukaemia, parents were
warned yesterday.

Scientists have found the body needs darkness to produce a chemical
that fights cancer.

Even switching the light on for the toilet, staying up late, travelling
across time zones, or the light from street lamps can stop enough
melatonin being made, they say.

The body needs the chemical to prevent damage to DNA and its absence
stops fatty acids reaching tumours and preventing them growing. Texas
University Prof Russell Reiter, who led the research, said: ‘Once you
go to bed you should not even switch the light on for a minute.

‘Your brain immediately recognises the light as day and melatonin
levels drop.’

Rates of childhood leukaemia have doubled in the past 40 years.

About 500 youngsters under 15 are diagnosed with the disease each year and around 100 die. A conference on childhood leukaemia in London yesterday
heard that people were being subjected to more light at night than
ever..

This suppressed the production of melatonin which normally happens between 9pm and 8am.

Past research has shown those most affected, like shift workers, had
higher levels of breast cancer.

Blind people, who are not vulnerable to fluctuations of melatonin, have
lower rates of cancer, it was found.

Parents are advised to use dim red or yellow bulbs if their youngsters are scared of the dark.

Trans-fats raise breast cancer risk

Trans-fats not only clog arteries, but may also raise the risk of getting breast cancer.

Trans-fats are artificial by-products of the hydrogenation process of vegetable oils, developed by an inexpensive method. These were, ironically, meant to be healthful replacements for artery-clogging saturated fats such as butter and lard. But the process of making vegetable oil behave like butter made it as unhealthy as butter. Trans-fats can be found in cooking fats, baked goods, snacks and a variety of other prepared foods. Many countries in the West have banned trans-fats in restaurant foods.

To look into the adverse effects of trans-fats, French researchers looked at blood samples collected between 1995 and 1998 from 25,000 women who had volunteered to report on their eating and lifestyle habits and then be followed for years to see if they developed cancer. Out of these women, 363 were diagnosed with breast cancer. Their blood levels of fatty acids were compared with those of women without cancer. It was found that the higher the levels of trans-fatty acids, the more likely a woman was to have cancer. Women with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, being studied for their potential benefits to health, were not any less likely to have breast cancer. Obese women are more likely to develop breast cancer, among other types of cancer, and high-fat diets are also linked with breast cancer.

The findings suggest that people, especially women, should limit their consumption of processed foods, which is the source of industrially produced trans-fatty acid.

Breast cancer linked to drinking

Breast cancer linked to drinking

San Diego, April 14: A large US study has linked alcohol consumption to an increased risk of the most common type of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

The analysis of data from more than 184,000 women is the biggest of three major studies to conclude that drinking raises the risk of breast cancer for older women, Jasmine Lew, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute and the study’s lead investigator said on Sunday.

The research found that women who had one to two small drinks a day were 32 percent more likely to develop a hormone-sensitive tumor. Three or more drinks a day raised the risk by 51 per cent.

“Regardless of the type of alcohol, the risk was evident,” said Lew, presenting the findings here at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

About 70 percent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have tumors that are positive for both the estrogen and progesterone receptors.

Lew said results from the NCI study lend credence to the theory that alcohol’s interference with the metabolism of estrogen raises the risk of cancer.

She said it was too early to make public health recommendations but said women should talk with their doctors to assess risk factors and consider lifestyle changes.

Other studies have linked light consumption of alcoholic drinks, especially red wine, to heart protection.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer killer of women, after lung cancer. It will be diagnosed in 1.2 million people globally this year and will kill 500,000.