Scientists Advise Pregnant Women to Eat Fish

www.sun-sentinel.com

By Sally Squires

In a major break with current U.S. health advice, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies plans to advise pregnant and breast-feeding women to consume at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week to ensure optimal brain development of their babies.

That recommendation, which will be announced at a news conference today, essentially is at odds with the standard government advice since 2001 that these groups should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood a week because of concerns about mercury contamination.

The new advisory comes from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, a nonprofit group with nearly 150 members, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Concerns over the impact of fish on the brain development of fetuses and infants, the most vulnerable groups, have been one of the more vexing nutritional dilemmas of recent years, causing widespread consumer confusion and fueling much scientific debate.

"It's been an important issue over the last decade or so," said Brown University professor Patricia Nolan, former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and one of the experts who drafted the new guidelines. "There is a big debate about what is safe. ... There are really complex questions. That is why we are doing this."

Concerns about mercury contamination prompted the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to issue warnings in 2001 and 2004. Pregnant and breast-feeding women, those who want to become pregnant and young children were advised to eat no more than 12 ounces weekly of seafood, based on theoretical calculations of the potential for contamination. Exposure of too much methyl mercury has been linked to neurological problems.

The FDA and EPA also recommended that these groups avoid eating shark, tilefish, king mackerel and swordfish because of their high mercury content and limit albacore tuna to no more than six ounces per week.

But recent studies have suggested that the health benefits of fish and seafood outweigh the potential health risks from mercury. Based on that evidence, a number of countries and governmental groups including the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Nordic Council of Ministers, already advise that pregnant women eat at least a couple of servings of fish weekly. Fish and seafood are the major dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, especially a substance called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that are key nutrients for brain and nervous systems in the developing fetus and in babies and young children.

7 ways to fight breast cancer

detnews.com

Carolyn Clifford

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is likely that we all will be hearing tips on preventing and treating breast cancer. Since some of the diet data is contradictory, you may not want to change your eating habits based on one study. But here are seven pieces of advice from the American Cancer Society you may want to consider.

1. Limit alcohol consumption. The research shows alcohol increases the risk of several kinds of cancer, including breast cancer. People who drink alcohol should limit consumption to no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Women at high risk of breast cancer may want to cut out alcohol altogether.
2. Eat more antioxidants. Antioxidant nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids and many other chemicals from plants. Studies show that people who eat more veggies and fruits may have a lower risk for some types of cancer.
3. Don't worry about coffee. While caffeine may heighten symptoms of fibrocystic breast lumps, a type of benign breast disease, there is no evidence it increases the risk of breast cancer.
4. Get your folate. Folate is a B vitamin found in many vegetables, beans, fruits, whole grains and fortified cereals. Since 1998, all grain products in the United States have been fortified with folate. Women who don't get enough folate may have an increased risk for breast cancer, especially if they drink alcohol.
5. Eat to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese is linked with an increased risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women. So avoiding excessive weight gain also to reduces the risk of other chronic diseases.
6. Use soy in moderation. Soy has been shown to protect against hormone-dependent cancers in animal studies. But high doses of soy could possibly increase the risk of estrogen-responsive cancers, such as breast cancer.
7. Don't smoke. Yes, I know, tobacco isn't food. But avoiding it is so important I just had to add it to the list.

Five Myths About Breast Cancer and Why You Shouldn't Believe Them

Five Myths About Breast Cancer and Why You Shouldn't Believe Them

www.foxnews.com

We’ve all heard the wives’ tales. Deodorant will give you breast cancer and so do microwaves and tight-fitting bras.

Alas, all of these tales are fictitious. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of other seemingly believable myths on breast cancer floating around, say doctors.

Many women, for example, have been told that women under the age of 40 should be getting mammograms and it’s the greedy insurance industry that is preventing them from doing so.

Mammograms, however, are ineffective for most young women, which is the real reason why they are discouraged from getting them, said Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

“Young women’s breasts are dense and if they get mammograms, their breasts show up very white on mammograms and cancer shows up as white,” she said. “But, as women get older, their breasts are less dense and show up gray on a mammogram, which makes it easy to identify the white cancer. If there is a family history, and women are worried, they can start earlier and in this case a digital mammography may work better than a traditional mammography.”

Here are five other myths about breast cancer:

— There’s no history of breast cancer in my family so I won’t get it.

“That’s not true,” said Dr. Marisa Weiss, an oncologist and the president of breastcancer.org. Although women with a family history are at a higher risk for the disease, environmental factors, drinking, smoking, medication and diet can all influence a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer.

Knowing the history of breast cancer on both sides of your family is also important. Just because a woman doesn’t have a history of breast cancer on her mother’s side, doesn’t mean she’s at a decreased risk. A paternal family history of breast cancer also increases a woman’s chances of getting it.

— I have breast cancer, so I have to get a mastectomy if I want to stop the spread and prevent the cancer from coming back.

Very few women diagnosed with breast cancer actually need a mastectomy, said Zuckerman. “In fact, most of the women who get mastectomies don’t need them,” she said. “And for women to lose their breasts, in addition to the normal emotional turmoil that they go through having breast cancer, is harmful emotionally and physically.”

Specifically, Zuckerman said that about 75 percent of the women who get breast cancer each year will not need mastectomies. Many women with stages 0, 1, or 2 breast cancer respond well to treatment that includes a lumpectomy, chemotherapy or a combination of both, she added.

— Young women are just as likely to get breast cancer as older women.

Both Weiss and Zuckerman agree that this also is not true. Women older than 50 are most at risk for this disease, explained Zuckerman. “Breast cancer in women younger than 30 is so rare, and this is one of the things that concerns me,” she said. “I think the media focuses on young women, because it’s so shocking when someone in their 20’s gets cancer. But what you end up with, are women in their 20’s and 30’s who are terrified that they're going to get cancer and women in their 50’s who think they don’t need to worry about it, when the opposite is true."

Of the nearly 200,000 women who will get breast cancer next year, half will be over the age of 61, said Weiss. About 25,000 women will be under the age of 40. “It’s still a significant number, but when you compare it to the overall number of women who get breast cancer, it’s a small percentage,” she said.

— Breast cancer is fatal.

“Breast cancer is not fatal in and of itself,” said Zuckerman. “What makes it fatal is if it goes into other parts of the body and gets into the lymph nodes, lungs and other organs,” she said. “Also if it gets into the blood or the bones, it can kill a person. That’s the risk of metastasized cancer. That means it has spread and once it hits the lymph nodes, it can become out of control.” Zuckerman said early detection is the best way to prevent cancer from spreading.

— Men don’t get breast cancer.

“This is certainly not true,” said Weiss. “Men do get it.” The American Cancer Society estimates that about 2,030 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men this year and about 450 men will die after getting the disease. Still, breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women and women whose fathers are diagnosed with breast cancer are at an increased risk for the disease just as they would be if their mothers are diagnosed with it, added Weiss.

7 ways to fight breast cancer

Panic Attacks May Increase Heart Risk

www.cbsnews.com

By Salynn Boyles

More Heart Attacks Seen In Older Women Who Experience Panic Attacks

Older women who experience panic attacks appear to have an increased risk for having heart attacks or heart-related death, new research suggests.

Postmenopausal women in the study who reported at least one full-blown panic attack within six months of being interviewed were four times as likely as other older women to have a heart attack or related death over the next five years.

They were three times as likely to have either a heart attack, heart-related death, or stroke, and nearly twice as likely to die from any cause.

Earlier studies have implicated depression as a risk factor for heart disease, but the new research is the first to suggest a direct link between anxiety-related panic attacks and heart attack and stroke risk.

Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychiatry Jordan W. Smoller, M.D., who led the study team, says more research is needed to confirm the finding.

"There is not a lot of previous evidence suggesting that panic attacks are in themselves dangerous (in terms of heart risk)," he tells WebMD. "Our study does not resolve the question. But it does suggest that older women with a recent history of panic attacks may warrant closer scrutiny for cardiovascular complications."

Panic Attacks and Heart Attacks

The study included 3,369 healthy postmenopausal women participating in the larger ongoing Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial examining risk factors for heart disease and other health outcomes among older women.

When they entered the study between 1997 and 2000, the women, whose average age was 66, were asked if they had recently experienced a panic attack. They were then followed for an average of 5.3 years.

At enrollment, one out of 10 women reported having had a full-blown panic attack within six months.

After adjusting for the impact of other established cardiovascular risk factors, a recent panic attack was associated with a fourfold increased risk of heart attack or heart-related death and a twofold increase in death from any cause.

The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

"Our study adds panic attacks to the list of emotional states and psychiatric symptoms that have been linked to excess risk of cardiovascular disease and death," the researchers wrote.

Impact on Heart Hard to Measure

Smoller says it is not clear if the anxiety that leads to panic attacks directly increases cardiovascular risk or if panic attacks are actually a symptom of undiagnosed heart and vascular disease.

"Shortness of breath, chest pain, and raised heartbeat are all symptoms of panic attack," he says. "It is possible that some women who reported these symptoms might have unrecognized cardiac problems."

It is also not clear if the findings apply to younger women and men, or if aggressive treatment of panic attacks with anti-anxiety drugs lowers heart attack and stroke risk.

Cardiologist Gerald F. Fletcher, M.D., tells WebMD that while there is growing evidence to suggest that depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions have an adverse impact on the heart, the impact remains difficult to measure.

Fletcher is a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.

"We have been able to show a direct link between heart disease and risk factors like hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, and smoking, "he says. "These are easily measurable, but the impact of depression and anxiety on heart risk is not."

Panic Attacks In Older Women Linked To Risk Of Cardiovascular Diseases