Lawsuit Filed Against Hot Dog Manufacturers

Here is an article from an organization called The Cancer Project.

http://www.cancerproject.org


http://www.cancerproject.org/media/news/hotdog_warning.php


Warning: Consuming Hot Dogs and Other Processed Meats Increases the Risk of Cancer

Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer. Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps consumers understand the health risk.

In March 2009, the National Cancer Institute published a study of more than half a million people showing that red and processed meat consumption is associated with a higher risk of dying of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

In 2007, the American Institute for Cancer Research published a landmark report showing that just one 50-gram serving of processed meat (about the amount in one hot dog) consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer, on average, by 21 percent. Every year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and approximately 50,000 die of it. Children are at particular risk as lifelong eating habits are established during childhood.

From a scientific standpoint, the situation with processed meat and cancer is very much like tobacco and lung cancer: There are hundreds of chemicals in tobacco smoke, and exactly which ones present the greatest risk has never been entirely clear. Processed meats contain fat, especially saturated fat, as well as lots of cholesterol and salt. The nitrites often used as a preservative can produce compounds that are suspected carcinogens. The bottom line is that science has tied processed meat consumption to increased cancer risk. That’s why hot dogs should be avoided.

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And here is another article discussing a recent lawsuit that has been filed against Hot Dog manufacturers regarding this:

http://www.cancerproject.org/media/news/090722.php

It has been a while

Yea..

well...

All systems are still a go. I have been so busy living life that I stopped posting here for a while. The fact is that everything continues to go excellent. Coming up in the next few weeks, I get my annual tests, which consist of a colonoscopy, and possibly a CT scan, although my Dr said that one would not be needed.

So... I am not too concerned. My CEA continues to be low, and my blood tests continue to be normal.

In place of this, life has given me other health related things to deal with, such as a cat allergy, a sinus infection a while back, and I might want to look into getting braces again some time in the future. Normal people stuff.

I have even managed to get a hangover, and a caffeine headache every once in a while.

So although I still keep a vigilant eye on my health, things are pretty good. Oh and by the way, July 12th marked the 2-year anniversary of me becoming N.E.D.

Hope you are having a great summer..

More great news

Well things continue to look good.

I just had my three-month checkup with the Oncologist, and everything looks good.

My CEA score was lower than 0.4 - same as it has been basically since my surgery.

And my Glucose was 98.

So I'm happy.

On the exercise front I am glad to see that it is, slowly but surely, warming up outside.

I have been doing a minimal exercise regimen lately. walking around a track for half an hour a couple days a week, and going to Yoga class once a week. I would like to be doing more, but various distractions have cluttered my schedule.

Anyhow, one day a week or two ago, when it was unseasonably warm out, I took my bike to the gas station and got the tires properly inflated. Then it got cold out again. I am really ready for some biking once it warms up.

I also have not been lifting weights at all for a couple of months, and am looking for a gym to join. Once I get all this figured out, and I get on a more intense workout schedule, I will feel even better. (But I cant complain right now)

I told my Oncologist that I have been taking 2000 IU of Vitamin D daily, because a study showed that Vitamin D deficiency and Colon Cancer are related. He told me that was OK, but really people do not get the benefits of Vitamin D unless they spend time in the sun. The Vitamin D gets converted slightly when exposed to sunlight and the new molecule, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, is the one which is important.

See here for the lowdown on Vitamin D:
http://www.healingtherapies.info/Sunlight&VitaminD.htm

From the article: "Basically, UVB light triggers a modification of a cholesterol-related molecule located in the membrane of skin cells. The vitamin D that is created is then ejected from the membrane into our circulation system, where it travels to the liver. In this organ, it is transformed into 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the derivative that doctors use to assess overall vitamin-D status. "

Therefore I plan on spending more time outdoors. Yay! Another reason to go to the beach this summer!

Great News.. Port is out, and Sugar is down.

Well it has been two weeks since the Port that was placed in my chest a year and a half ago has been removed.

I am happy to say that the surgery was very minor. They used local anesthetic and I was talking to the doctor the entire time.

I rested on the first night, and following that I was up and about just fine. didn't even taken a Tylenol for the pain - really it just felt a little sore.

I had a big piece of gauze taped on to my chest which eventually sloughed off, and under that was several steri-strips, some of the medical superglue, and then several biodegradable stitches which will eventually fade away. Details Details..

For anyone who was wondering, I just thought I'd let you know. It isn't nearly as big of a deal as when they put the port in.

My only slight regret is that they would not let me keep the port as a souvenir. They said it was medical waste, and a biohazzard because of the chemo that has gone through it. o well....

Other than that - things have been good. Last week I attended Yoga class and realized that this is the first time I could do the Cobra pose without feeling like I was laying on top of a bottle cap. And today I returned to weight lifting at Citywide Super Slow.

In addition to getting the port out, I have been able to control my blood sugar through diet and have managed to get my morning glucose level back into the 90's.

So overall life is good. The weather is warming up and Spring will be here soon.

I'm looking forward to biking again once it warms up. And within a few weeks I am going to return to taking ginsing, and the mushroom supplement AHCC.

I am cured of colon cancer until further notice.

Test results back - OK to move forward, but...

I'm happy. I went to see my Family Doctor so that I could combine my required blood tests with an annual physical. A 1-2 punch. Got the test results back. Everything is good to go. Again they tested my CEA and again it was below 0.5. Cholesterol, liver enzymes, platelets.. everything great - for the port removal operation, that is.

One disturbing find was that my glucose level has crept up to 120. That is not good. I am now wading into pre-diabetes territory. So therefore, I again must adjust my diet. No more sweets and carbs. For me this means no more fries and soda pop, as well as a bunch of other things. I had just gotten back into eating pizza again. Well, the Dr. wants me to stick to this diet and also make sure that I stick to my exercise plan. We will revisit this in 3 months.

The other interesting find was the results of a Vitamin-D test. My results were in the normal range, but on the low end. This is interesting because I have been taking a 1000 IU pill every day for about 6 months. It must indicate that I was Vitamin-D deficient before. Vitamin D has been shown to be a very potent preventative weapon against colon cancer. I would recommend to everyone to request a Vitamin D test the next time you have regular blood work done.

For more information on the role that Vitamin D plays, see these links:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Vitamin_D_Protects_Against_Colon_Cancer.asp

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerColon.shtml

Anyhow, now that I am cleared for the port removal surgery, I want to revisit one more time whether I would like a plastic surgeon to do the procedure or not. And then the surgery needs to be done within 30 days.

Meanwhile I will be dieting and exercising and avoiding the next disease that apparently is lingering in the shadows. More and more it appears that this has all been the result of years of poor diet habits. However, I have to tell you though that I was always a conscienscous eater. And although I followed what you could call a 'Western diet' I always considered myself a Moderate when I compared my eating habits to other's.

Yay.. continued

Well the good news is that my CEA level in my blood is 0.4, which is excellent. If it was above 2.5, it would indicate that there is possibly some kind of tumor activity going on. So I am going in for a complete physical in a week or two and then will be scheduling a minor surgery to remove the port in my chest. Then, keeping my fingers crossed, I will remain healthy and not ever have to have another one put back in.

What's a port? Here is a quick looksie:

http://www.bardnordic.com/main/product.asp?sectionTypeId=2&sectionId=28&productId=152

From here on out, I just have to keep an eye open and see my Doctors regularly. It has been about a year and a half since surgery. Most recurrences, 80%, (if they occur at all) happen in the first two years. After that the risk of a recurrence drops dramatically, however it does not drop to zero. I will be living the straight and narrow for a few more years.

A visit to the Onc

Yes.. it was that time of the year again to stop in and see my Oncologist. See what is up, and how things are going.



Yea the good news is that my blood work is excellent. Gotta get a copy of my recent CT scan over to him, and then following that, I can make arrangements to have the port removed from my chest. Hmm.. Maybe before New Years? That will be another step towards putting this all behind me and moving on. I am lucky in a way. a lot of people complain about their port, that it hurts and it gets in the way of their every-day life. Imagine when you go driving, wearing a seat belt, and how it can cause discomfort. My Port doesn't hurt, itch or anything. I often forget that I even have it.

OK....

My Doctor and I then discussed diet etc. He tells me that I need to cut back on the alcohol. Not that I drink a lot. As a matter of fact, I am always watching what I drink. but the fact is that since I was feeling soo good lately, I have allowed myself an extra drink here and there. Nope. Gotta keep it to four drinks a week, or if I go out only one night a week, then no more than three drinks. My solution to that is to switch from beer to wine. I can seriously sip on a glass of red wine for a long long time, and frankly I don't need to drink when I go out, but it is out of habit to down a beer when I am in a bar.. nope, now I will sip on a wine.

Next, I was told that I could have red meat twice a week. hmm. I have kept red meat to a minimum - like once every six weeks. Well, my doc told me that it really depends on the cut of meat. Not some fast-food hamburger.. but a nice, well prepared steak, with no char on it, is good and necessary otherwise I might develop a dietary deficiency. Well. We will see about this. Maybe once a month or so. I plan to enjoy some steak this holiday season.

In general, as the saying goes, everything in moderation, including moderation.

The good news is that I might have that port out before New Years. (no pun intended) So stay tuned and maybe I will have some really wild photos to show you when that procedure goes down....

How Eating Red Meat Can Spur Cancer Progression

University of California - San Diego. "How Eating Red Meat Can Spur Cancer Progression: New Mechanism Identified." ScienceDaily 14 November 2008. 17 November 2008 . full article here

ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2008) — Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Ajit Varki, M.D., have shown a new mechanism for how human consumption of red meat and milk products could contribute to the increased risk of cancerous tumors.

Their findings, which suggest that inflammation resulting from a molecule introduced through consumption of these foods could promote tumor growth, are published online this week in advance of print publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Varki, UC San Diego School of Medicine distinguished professor of medicine and cellular and molecular medicine, and co-director of the UCSD Glycobiology Research and Training Center, and colleagues studied a non-human cellular molecule called N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). Neu5Gc is a type of glycan, or sugar molecule, that humans don't naturally produce, but that can be incorporated into human tissues as a result of eating red meat. The body then develops anti-Neu5Gc antibodies – an immune response that could potentially lead to chronic inflammation, as first suggested in a 2003 PNAS paper by Varki.

"We've shown that tumor tissues contain much more Neu5Gc than is usually found in normal human tissues," said Varki. "We therefore surmised that Neu5Gc must somehow benefit tumors."

It has been recognized by scientists for some time that chronic inflammation can actually stimulate cancer, Varki explained. So the researchers wondered if this was why tumors containing the non-human molecule grew even in the presence of Neu5Gc antibodies.

"The paradox of Neu5Gc accumulating in human tumors in the face of circulating antibodies suggested that a low-grade, chronic inflammation actually facilitated the tumor growth, so we set out to study that hypothesis," said co-author Nissi M.Varki, M.D., UCSD professor of pathology.

Using specially bred mouse models that lacked the Neu5Gc molecule – mimicking humans before the molecule is absorbed into the body through ingesting red meat – the researchers induced tumors containing Neu5Gc, and then administered anti-Neu5Gc antibodies to half of the mice. In mice that were given antibodies inflammation was induced, and the tumors grew faster. In the control mice that were not treated with antibodies, the tumors were less aggressive

Others have previously shown that humans who take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (commonly known as NSAIDs) have a reduced risk of cancer. Therefore, the mice with cancerous tumors facilitated by anti-Neu5Gc antibodies were treated with an NSAID. In these animals, the anti-inflammatory treatment blocked the effect of the Neu5Gc antibodies and the tumors were reduced in size.

"Taken together, our data indicate that chronic inflammation results from interaction of Neu5Gc accumulated in our bodies from eating red meat with the antibodies that circulate as an immune response to this non-human molecule – and this may contribute to cancer risk," said Varki.

Additional contributors to the paper are Maria Hedlund and Vered Padler-Karavani, UCSD Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine. The study was funded in part by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, of the National Institutes of Health.

Click here for a discussion on this.....
http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5234

Images of my insides..

In light of my recent CT scan and the results coming back totally clean (Whoo hoo!), I thought you might like to see some of the images.. Sort of a celebration I suppose - this is what a clean bill of health looks like. I requested a copy of the CT scan from the hospital and they gave it to me on a CD. It is a good idea to have this and keep it in a safe place. Every doctor that I see, or will see in the future, gets a copy of these.




Different cross-section views of my abdomen using two different scanning techniques (I think, because one looks more sharp than the other) You can see my spine and back muscles on the bottom, then the ribcage on top. A view of various organs all in the middle. The top photo is roughly hip-height and shows some of the pelvic bone in white. The second photo is a cross-section from higher up, near the belly button.



(I deleted some of the personal information from these, like account number and name, etc. I looked through tons of these pictures, which are slices through my body from different angles. The ones I posted here just looked like they showed the most "stuff" but I really don't know what to look for. I leave that up to the doctors.





They say there are surgical clips in me where the reconnection is, but I don't know what to look for. I think that would be cool to see. I was also trying to see how my large intestine is now positioned differently because I no longer have the sigmoid portion of it. What am I looking at? Tell me what you see.

Aftermath: Well now, the CT scan is done and the next one wont occur for another two years provided my bloodwork continues to be normal. I see my Oncologist at the beginning of December and if all goes well, we will make arrangements to have the port in my chest removed. Stay tuned for more...

My CT scan results - you can call me Mr. Clean

Hello,

It has been over a year since my surgery, so it was time for a CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis. The short story is that there was no evidence of disease found and the scans came back totally clean. I am very happy about that however it doesn't mean I can relax my focus on my health. Absolutely not. Statistically 80% of recurrences happen in the first two years, so I have at least another year to go before I want to even think about easing up. I still need to be very vigelent with my health. More on this in the next post... but first here are some highlights of the scan:

(I will be adding some interesting pics of the scan shortly.)

All of my organs appear unremarkable, meaning there is nothing odd about them. One interesting thing is that there are surgical clips still inside of me, which I guess will be there for the rest of my life, where the large intestine was reconnected.

My Oncologist tells me that I will not need another CT scan for two years - provided my blood tests continue to remain stable. Furthermore if my blood test remains excellent three months from now, I can start making arrangements to get the port in my chest removed.

I should say that I don't even feel the thing and I am not in any hurry to get it removed, but it will be good if the time is right- Just another step in the process of healing, recovering, and moving on with my life...

With that plan on the horizon, I met with a plastic surgeon to discuss what my scars will look like and what he can do to minimize them. I will research this further, but at the time that I have the port removed, I might have him step in to close up the wound. He told me that the skin where the port was located is fatigued because a foreign body was under it for so long, the skin has been stretched, and in general the scar wont look great without plastic surgery, a procedure referred to as "scar revision." The plastic surgeon may also revise the scar that is located on my lower abdomen, although he told me that he already considered it a darn good scar. The problem that I have with that scar is, as he explained it, the skin has been attached to the abdomen wall and there is no layer of fat right beneath it (compared to normally). Therefore when I sit or bend a certain way, it looks like it is dented or creased -and to me it doesn't look so attractive. Since I am single, I might want to do something about it. He would go in and separate the skin from the muscle wall and use a technique to restore the layer of fatty tissue that is normally sandwiched in there, then sew up the skin using plastic surgery stitches so that the scar would be quite minimized, and the appearance restored- not 100% but much better. This is all a personal choice and is not medically necessary, so I dont know if, when the time comes, I will actually do this... The ballpark out-of-pocket cost is about $1500.00.

What else? Well summer is definitely coming to a close here. It sure went fast. I am not looking forward to winter at all. Instead of biking I will be switching to swimming laps indoors for exercise, along with continuing to lift weights, yoga, and I am actually trying to find some other things to do. Typically winter is a time where I dont exercise as much I need to. I don't belong to a gym, but I may have to look around and see what is out there. Any suggestions? My finances still need healing from all of this too.