Here’s a new risk for cancer a lot of us can relate to — simply sitting too long

“It seems highly likely that the longer you sit, the higher your risk,” Neville Owen, PhD, of Australia’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, says in a news release.

Owen presented the research at a news conference today at the American Institute for Cancer Research annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Regular exercise has long been linked with reducing the risk of certain cancers.

Now, experts say they have a better strategy. Get regular exercise and avoid prolonged periods of sitting.

Higher activity could prevent nearly 100,000 cases of breast and colon cancer in the U.S. each year, says Christine Friedenreich, PhD, research scientist and epidemiologist at Alberta Health Services in Canada. “These are just estimates,” she tells WebMD.

Friedenreich presented the estimates at the news conference today.

Being sedentary has been linked with an increase in inflammation and other indicators of cancer risk. More recently, so has prolonged sitting.

“We’d like Americans to think about physical activity in a different way,” Alice Bender, RD, a dietitian for the American Institute for Cancer Research, said at the news conference.

The focus, Bender says, should be on finding time for regular exercise while also reducing prolonged sitting. “We would like people to think about ‘make time’ and ‘break time’ and that equals cancer protection.”

The American Institute for Cancer Research now recommends that adult Americans who sit most of the day take one- or two-minute ”activity” breaks every hour.

Sitting Time and Cancer Risk

“Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor in its own right,” Owen says. The link is not dependent, he says, on body weight or the level of exercise done.

In his research, Owen measured waist circumference, inflammation, and other indicators of heart disease and cancer risk. “We found that even breaks as short as one minute can lower these biomarkers.”

The study is published in the European Heart Journal.

Along with less sitting, Friedenreich updated the evidence linking physical activity with reduced cancer risk by reviewing more than 200 studies.

“We can now say there is convincing evidence that activity reduces the risk of colon and breast cancer and probably endometrial,” she tells WebMD.

There is weaker evidence for the effect of exercise on lung , prostate , and ovarian cancer risk, she says.

For colon cancer, studies showed that people who exercised the most (and the amount varied from study to study) had a 30% or 35% risk reduction compared to people who were least active, she says.

In studies on exercise and breast cancer, the most active people reduced their risk 20% or 30%, compared to the least active.

For endometrial cancer , the risk reduction was also 30% to 35% for the most active.

Because each study had different categories of most or least activity, “we can’t say, ‘this is how many hours [of activity are needed],’” she says. She is addressing that in a current study.

To calculate the effect of activity on cancer risk, Friedenreich turned to the SEER Program (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) database of the National Cancer Institute.

A total of 141,210 colon cancers and 230,480 breast cancers were reported for 2011. She estimated that about 30% of the colon cancers, or nearly 43,000, could be prevented with activity. About 21% of breast cancers, or about 49,000, might be avoided.

In her research, Friedenreich recently found that women who began to exercise had much lower levels of C-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammation and possibly cancer risk, than those who did not.

She randomly assigned half of 320 women, ages 50 to 74, to the exercise group. They worked up to exercise five days a week for at least 45 minutes. The program lasted a year. The study is published in Cancer Prevention Research.

Second Opinion

The bottom line for reducing health risks, including cancer? “Exercise is good, but you can’t sit all the time,” says Leslie Bernstein, PhD, professor and director of the division of cancer etiology at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, Calif. She reviewed the findings for WebMD.

Bernstein and colleagues published a study in 2010 about the dramatic effects of “sitting time” on the likelihood of dying.

The study was led by Bernstein’s former doctoral student, Alpa Patel, PhD, now an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society. They found the likelihood of dying during the 14-year follow-up was higher in those who spent six or more hours a day sitting, compared to those who spent less than three hours. The risk was 37% higher for women sitting six or more hours and18% for men.

The link was strongest for death from heart disease. The sitting time was linked with death risk, regardless of the amount of physical activity, Bernstein tells WebMD. The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“All our messages before [to reduce disease risk] were ‘exercise, exercise, exercise,”’ Bernstein says. Now, growing evidence suggests it is also important to avoid prolonged periods of sitting, she says.

Tips for Office Workers

Bender says it’s possible even for a commuting, desk-bound office worker to avoid long periods of sitting.

Her tips:

• Set the timer on your computer to alert you every 60 minutes to take a break. A short walk down the hall is enough.
• Ask a colleague to walk with you to talk about a problem instead of sitting.
• During a phone call in your office, stand up and walk around if

Several recent studies have shown that the vast majority of doctors in the U.S. have not adopted the standardized use of Electronic Health Records (EHR), and one expert believes it’s one of the driving forces behind rising healthcare costs.

Preliminary estimates from the 2010 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), which is conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), showed that the percentage of physicians with EHRs that met the criteria of a basic EHR system by state ranged from 12.5 percent to 51.5 percent. However, after excluding 27 states with unreliable estimates, the percentage of physicians having fully functional systems that met the criteria ranged from only 9.7 percent to 27.2 percent.

“Tracking medical problems can prevent complications of chronic illnesses such as heart attacks, strokes and can increase the overall quality of care,” said Dr. Angel Garcia, CEO of EHR solutions provider Global Medical Consultants. “Moreover, the cost savings of having widespread adoption of EHR in the U.S. healthcare industry would reduce healthcare costs by more than 30 percent per year – a savings of more than $720 billion per year. That’s actually more than enough savings to insure all 47 million Americans currently without health insurance.”

What perplexes Garcia is the new data just released that suggests almost one-third of physicians now own an iPad. According to a report by the American Medical News in April 2011, nearly 33 percent of all doctors indicate they own the new technology. Another report from the market research firm Knowledge Networks stated that 27 percent of primary care and specialty physicians own an iPad or similar device, five times the rate of the general population.

What’s unclear, according to Dr. Garcia, is the role the technology has in their practice.

“When you compare the power of tablet and cloud computing with a strong EHR adoption rate, the potential for savings and markedly increased quality of patient care could skyrocket,” said Dr. Garcia, also author of Do No Harm: Saving Our Health Care System (www.DoNoHarmDrs.com). “The problem is that doctors aren’t incorporating both these elements. Let’s face it – some doctors are surfing the web and downloading movies and music on a device that could help save the industry that is in crisis. It’s time for the healthcare industry to catch up to every other industry in the civilized world and adopt an electronic solution for not just record-keeping but more importantly clinical tracking of medical problems that will make their patients safer and healthcare affordable.”

About Dr. Angel Garcia

Angel M. Garcia, M.D. is a practicing physician with more than twenty-five years of clinical experience. Dr. Garcia designed electronic medical records to improve medical care by tracking medical problems for thirty-two medical and surgical specialties. Dr. Garcia was a five-time guest speaker at the National Medical Records Institute annual scientific meetings. In 2001, Dr. Garcia was selected as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was a guest of President George Bush at the White House for the High-Tech Leaders Forum and the Economic Leaders Forum.

Soon Kelly will be leaving his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – who is recovering from being shot in the head more than a month ago – to lead the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s last mission. However, one expert knows that the shuttle mission isn’t the only thing on Kelly’s mind. The way she knows is that she lived through a similar experience.

“My husband, Alan, suffered a severe brain injury as the result of a heart attack and cardiac arrest,” said Janet Cromer, a career RN and healthcare writer who specializes in brain injury. “Mark is going to have a dual role as spouse and caregiver and he is going to be as much a part – if not more – of his wife’s recovery as any doctor working on her case. I know that as he prepares for his mission in space, he is likely also thinking about his mission for when he gets home – what he will do to help his wife recover.”

Cromer is also author of the book Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple’s New Life after Brain Injury (www.janetcromer.com), a chronicle of how she tended to her husband’s recovery, and how it affected them in terms of both their emotional health and their physical health, as well as their marriage. “Her 35 years in the healthcare field, along with her personal journey as wife and caregiver, led her to create the following tips for helping a brain injury victim learn how to read, write and think again.

• Prepare for a Long Mission – Cognitive rehab usually starts in the hospital or outpatient setting. But that’s just the beginning. Healing and recovering from a brain injury can take a long time.  Many people can continue to make progress in specific ways for months and years after a brain injury with ongoing treatment, motivation, and practice.
• Take Breaks — The brain consumes an enormous amount of energy while concentrating and relearning material. Build frequent rest breaks into sessions. Take days off from intensive rehab work. We stopped our “rehab week” on Friday at 5 PM and just enjoyed the weekend. The brain also benefits from time to let new information settle in and integrate.
• Set Realistic Goals — Set a few realistic goals. Alan cared most about learning to read and write, so our goals reflected his priorities. Make your goal measurable. For example, “Alan will write three sentences in his log book five days a week.”
• Prepare Training Materials — We set up a table in Alan’s office as his new “learning center.” I put away his work as a physics professor. Then we added a children’s computer, children’s dictionary, and two reading books at a time. It can be humiliating to start learning basic skills as an adult, so we selected computers and puzzles that looked like they were made for adults. V-Tech makes such products. As long as the tool looked grown-up, Alan was willing to try it.
• Make Rehab a Routine — Doing cognitive and physical rehab became part of our “new normal” life. We scheduled time for certain practice sessions in a distraction-free room. Then we practiced spelling at the grocery store or reading comprehension while talking over a newspaper story. Sometimes I asked Alan to read me a poem before bed. We memorized poems together and enjoyed reciting them.
• Use Music — The brain stores and accesses music in different ways than spoken words. Alan loved to sing, and sang long lyrics much easier than he spoke sentences. We sang TV commercials as cues to brush his teeth. Alan remembered the lyrics to camp songs and Broadway musicals, so I asked him to teach me. Playing an instrument and listening to music stimulate several parts of the brain and can be a lot of fun.

Enjoy – Revel in hope and love- a new relationship and life can flourish when nurtured with hope and love.

Omar Gooding

Health care is all the rage these days not just for America but for television too – just ask actor Omar Gooding who stars in “Miami Medical,” the latest medical drama to air on primetime television.

A Jerry Bruckheimer production, it focuses on what Omar calls “the alpha team.” A group of trauma doctors who save critically injured patients in Miami.

“We deal with trauma patients.  Penetrating injuries to the head, torso or a fall of over 15 feet or more,” explains Omar. “I play Tuck Brody the head nurse. He’s this mysterious guy with a scar above his eye.”

The younger brother of Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., Omar is a familiar face on television. With guest roles in “Deadwood,” “The Division” and “One On One,” he made his film debut in Bill Cosby’s “Ghost Dad.”

“I first started in sitcoms and then rolled into the movie aspect,” he says. “And was attracted to this project not only because it’s produced by Bruckheimer but the script itself is beautifully written. It’s a show which films like a movie,” he continues.

With no shortage of medical shows on network and cable television, competition for loyal audiences might be tough, but Gooding is adamant “Miami Medical” is not your average medical show.

“There was another show on NBC called “Trauma” which was basically about a search and rescue team. We pick up where they left off when they arrive at the hospital. It’s an adrenaline fueled series about saving someone’s life and it’s all about the filming and the high energy. Every show will begin with a huge explosion or a crash or some terrific accident,” he says.

Also starring Jeremy Northam and Mike Vogel, “Miami Medical” airs Fridays on CBS at 10/9c.

And I’m one of the lucky ones! The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) claims that there are 46.3 million uninsured Americans (John Briley, AARP Bulletin Today, September 11, 2009). With approximately 305 million people living in the United States, that means 15% of the population can’t afford to get sick! The figure is not only astoundingly mind-boggling…..it’s a disgrace.

Before delving into the ongoing healthcare reform initiated by President Barack Obama, with bills wending their way through five Congressional committees, we have to appreciate the current landscape. Right-wing Republicans are, by their own admission, hell-bent on making the president fail at every turn. The President should not count on any cooperation from that part of the Republican Party. These Republicans are spreading false rumors, spewing hatred and hoping that the public will be riled up (or scared) enough to say “no” to everything that Obama proposes, without giving it a fair hearing.

Naysayers are claiming that the American healthcare system is fine just the way it is, and that Obama wants to institute socialized medicine. Yes, the healthcare system is great….if you are working! Lose your job and you are one catastrophic illness away from losing your home or your life savings. Even though the U.S. has many good doctors, the country has more infant deaths per capita than Canada, Sweden, France and even Cuba (CDC, NCHS Data Brief, November 2009). And, by the way, those other countries have the dreaded socialized medicine disease!

If socialized medicine was as bad as Republicans want us to believe, then these other countries should be suffering from the plague. The fact is that in countries with government-sponsored healthcare, the citizens are healthier on average than in the United States. The simple reason is that they are able to go to the doctor whenever they are sick without worrying about the financial implications.

Which takes us to the “dreaded” public option scenario in Obama’s original plan. The idea was that the government would administer a healthcare plan that would compete with private industry to help keep costs down and provide more affordable option for the citizenry. Opponents coined the term “ObamaCare” to describe this governmental intrusion into the most hallowed of industries. Insurance companies are scaring people by saying that their premiums will increase. Yes friends, your premiums will increase because these insurance companies are going to increase their premiums in anticipation of more affordable competition. You might remember the credit card companies increasing their rates as legislation limiting interest rates made its way to the Senate this past summer. The legislation failed, but credit card companies still dug the knife deeper into the backs of consumers by keeping their rates high.

Similarly, insurance companies will raise their rates just in case the future brings added competition from the government.

I think all this opposition to the president trying to help those without healthcare insurance points to mean-spirited behavior coming from moderate Democrats and Republicans. The next time any of these politicians decry socialized medicine, ask them what kind of healthcare plan they have. Members of Congress have health insurance for life that is fully paid by the taxpayers. They have no problem accepting this largesse from us. What is wrong with the public having something similar to this? What about Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? These are government-run programs that are almost untouchable come budget time

So friends, we already have public options. It’s just that these hypocritical and selfish members of Congress want to deny the rest of the public the sort of healthcare benefits that have been extended to them as part of the ruling class.

In a survey conducted by Drs. Salomeh Keyhani and Alex Federman of Mount Sinai School of Medicine earlier this year, they found that 73% of doctors supported the public option, even though the leaders of the American Medical Association (AMA) were against it. The AMA leadership apparently thinks that any government-run program will lead to doctors getting lower fees. Even if this happens, what’s wrong with us giving back a little so that all Americans can have the benefit of affordable healthcare? Again, the selfishness of those who have at the expense of those who have not.

This is one time when I think liberal Democrats should hold out for as long as possible to get this public option into any bill that comes to the floor. They need to turn back the lies about socialized medicine. No system is perfect, but to vilify something that has worked for years in Europe is silly. Europeans have been far better off than Americans for the kind of healthcare system they have had.

Let’s not talk about waiting long to see a doctor. I pay plenty to be part of the vaunted American healthcare system, and sometimes I have to wait a month or more to see a specialist!

In the final analysis, President Obama will have to decide if the campaign promise of a better and more equitable healthcare system is worth fighting for. He’ll have to decide if he’s going to spend the political capital to fight for the public option. I believe a public option would help-working class families—and I believe that despite the drivel coming from the hate-filled right-wingers.

A recently concluded study by Britain’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that less than one third of men and two thirds of women washed their hands with soap after using the toilet.  The study observed that people were more likely to wash their hands if they were shamed or thought someone was watching them.  The researchers placed electronic message boards in various restrooms around Britain flashing messages such as: “Soap it off or eat it later.”  “Don’t take the loo with you – wash with soap.”  The most successful message and the one that caused an 11% increase in the use of soap by both men and women was: “Is the person next to you washing with soap?”

I don’t know how much money these British scientists spent on this exhaustive study, but had they come to me, I guarantee that I could have saved them 99% of their budget.  I’ve seen enough disgusting behavior from our species to conclude that we basically are a nasty and unhygienic lot.  This is especially so of the male of our species, as the study so overwhelmingly showed.  Whether it’s picking their noses and dining on some “mucous a la carte” while driving down the freeway; or after using the toilet, standing in front of the sink with the tap running, combing their hair with their fingers, in a feeble attempt to convince everyone in the restroom that they are washing their hands, I’ve seen it all.  Don’t get me wrong.  The female of the species is not totally excused from this nauseating behavior, it’s just that males seem to take it to a much lower level.  Men seem to think that if they touch a dirty toilet, and then touch themselves, there’s no need to wash with soap as they are somehow cleansed by some miraculous “divine sanitation.”

Some of my fellow Jamaicans may be saying to themselves: “See, I told you that these white folks were nasty!”  Please! Don’t kid yourselves into thinking that these statistics only apply to the Caucasians among us.  I don’t know if the percentages would have been any better had the research been done in the Caribbean, but this is no British phenomenon.  The males of our species the world over need to clean up their act.

There is an episode of the sitcom Sienfeld, where his girlfriend mistakenly thinks that she saw him picking his nose.  She breaks up with him over the incident and even though he had not picked his nose, he goes on to berate her about a man’s right to pick his nose in peace if he so desires.  Maybe if more women derided their mates about their toilet habits, the male percentage from the British study would have been higher.  Maybe these men will forever need the Mommies to keep telling them to wash their hands and to assure them that the ten seconds it takes won’t diminish the machismo many of their psyches thrive upon.

Old time people in Jamaica used to say that you shouldn’t eat at anyone else’s house unless you know their personal hygiene.  After living 24 years in the U.S., I still follow that advice.  I try not to eat out too much, but sometimes you just can’t avoid eating from people who you don’t know.  We have a saying in Jamaica that says: “Wha nu kill, fatten.” (“What doesn’t kill, fattens.”).  So you roll the dice and hope that you’ll live to tell the tale.  Unfortunately, the world is now faced with a new pandemic called the H1N1 swine flu and “what fattens, might just kill.”  This flu, which is more virulent than the regular seasonal influenza, has killed about 5,000 worldwide and 1,000 in the U.S. to date.  What’s the best (and cheapest) way that experts are saying to slow the spread of this dangerous microbe?  Penicillin?  Quarantines?  No……it’s washing our hands!  The simple act of washing our hands will greatly slow down the spread of a virus that is killing otherwise healthy people.  Though, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the regular flu kills about 36,000 people in the U.S. annually, swine flu has the potential to do greater damage.  The low numbers for swine flu deaths so far can be attributed to the early proactive approach internationally to fight the virus.

Folks, please remind your children to wash their hands with soap before they eat, after they finish playing outside and first thing when they come home from school as they are more prone to catching the swine flu.  Adults should also follow this same advice.  When you come home from work, wash your hands – who knows how many toilets you shook hands with while at work!  You may roll your eyes at the simplicity of the request, but this simple act could save your or your child’s life.  And if this column somehow embarrasses you, then good!  That was the point of the British study.

Writers note: A very dear friend of mine, Andrene Bonner, has published her first book entitled Olympic Gardens.  For those who are nostalgic about Jamaica in the 1960s or just curious about another culture, this award-winning book will make you laugh and cry.  Please contact Ms. Bonner at:

Andrene Bonner
32 North 7th Avenue
Suite 1N
Mount Vernon, NY 10550
914-668-5836
abwrites2@aol.com
http://andrenebonner.wordpress.com