Category: prevention and fitness

Red meat, vegetables and colon cancer; or is it the fish?

They concluded that any diet in which fruit and vegetable intake is emphasized has health benefits, including lower risk for CRC in certain circumstances.

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How diet may effect cancer risk

High red meat consumption is associated with increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), and high fiber intake is associated with lowered risk; however, the effect of various types of meatless or vegetarian diets is uncertain.

a plate of food-fish fillet, green beans
Fish, vegetables, whole grains- healthy choices or not?

In a North American prospective study, researchers identified dietary patterns and CRC occurrence in nearly 78,000 adults over  7 years. A prospective study is one in which the study group is  observed over a continuing period of time, usually years.

During  that 7 years,  490 people developed cancer.  

The people in the study ate one of 5 diets based on eating questionnaires-

  1. Vegans: No eggs, dairy, fish, or meat
  2. Lacto-ovo vegetarians: Eggs and dairy, but no fish or meat
  3. Pescovegetarians: Eggs, dairy, and limited fish, but no meat
  4. Semivegetarians: eggs, dairy, and limited fish plus meat (≤1 time per week)
  5. Nonvegetarians: eggs, dairy, and fish plus meat (>1 time per week)

After considering certain personal and clinical factors, they reported that all 4 vegetarian groups had a 22% lower risk of colon cancer than non vegetarians.

Most impressive was a 43% lower risk for the pescovegetarians.

They concluded that any diet in which fruit and vegetable intake is emphasized has health benefits, including lower risk for CRC in certain circumstances.

And that eating fish in particular may be even more beneficial in regard to colon cancer.

So are vegetarian diets healthy?

Vegetarian diets are popular for various reasons, some related to health, some related to concern for animals or the environment. Most physicians and laypersons believe there are health benefits, but proof is elusive since

  • Documenting a person’s diet for any length of time relies on self-reports which may be inaccurate or even inflated.
  • Comparing  vegetarians to nonvegetarians requires people to voluntarily eat  meat
  • asking someone to deliberately eat a diet high in red meat would be unethical since  we believe it is not healthy (even without hard proof).

This study does not “prove” that red meat causes colon cancer or that eating vegetables prevents it. These diets seem to be associated with a higher or lower, respectively, risk of this cancer.

plate of vegetables
Healthy food choices don’t have to be difficult

Here’s some additional information about colon cancer from FamilyDoctor.org

via Colorectal Cancer | Overview.

exploring the HEART of healthy eating

Here is another post about eating-why your mother may have wanted you to eat more greens

How to use watercress and other greens.

Dr. Aletha

Dr. Charles Krauthammer on the public’s health vs. individual privacy

the need to protect the public’s health and the rights of the individual may not always coincide.These arguments could apply to situations other than Ebola infection. They include other infectious diseases as well as tobacco use, alcohol and drug use and abuse, motor vehicle safety, mental health , vaccine avoidance, gun ownership, and sexually transmitted diseases.

This post was updated August 2, 2021

To call the late Dr. Charles Krauthammer an opinion writer is a vast understatement. a Pulitzer Prize winner, he wrote a popular column for the Washington Post . He died from intestinal cancer in 2018.

With wit and wisdom he addressed a wide variety of headlining topics, as well as those more mundane, including politics, economics,education, relationships and  lifestyle. His previous background as a practicing psychiatrist qualified him to comment on medical issues with insight and experience.

Ebola (and COVID-19) vs. civil liberties

In this 2014 article about the Ebola virus epidemic and civil liberties,  he addressed the conflict created by the introduction of the Ebola virus into the United States. He argues that the need to protect the public’s health  and the rights of the individual may not always coincide.

These arguments could apply to situations other than Ebola infection. They include other infectious diseases as well as tobacco use, alcohol and drug use and abuse, motor vehicle safety, mental health, vaccine avoidance, gun ownership, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Things that matter : three decades of passions, pastimes, and politics

As a physician, I find it fascinating and amazing that Dr. Krauthammer completed medical school and residency after and despite sustaining a spinal cord injury which caused quadriplegia (paralysis from the neck down, preventing use of his arms and legs).

He discusses this, and pays tribute to a medical school professor who helped make it possible in his book

Things That Matter by Charles Krauthammer

a both a memoir and a collection of his essays. His success causes one to question how exactly should we define “disability”?

You will find  Dr. Krauthammer on The Washington Post . You may not always agree with him, but I think you will appreciate his creative use of words to express his well thought opinions.

 

Dr. Charles Krauthammer on circus elephants, eating meat, and moral choices

 

 

exploring the HEART of public health

Dr. Aletha