Calcium's protective effect on incidence of colorectal polyps continues after supplements end

In the Calcium Followup Study, there was a 35% reduction of the risk of developing an adenoma and a 41% reduction in the risk of hyperplastic polyps in the five years following the end of treatment with daily calcium supplements. Adenomas can become malignant over time, although hyperplastic polyps do not.

The 35% risk reduction for adenomas was even greater than during the original study period itself. However, continuing to take calcium did not appear to add much benefit during the five year follow-up time. Benefit also diminished over time after five years of not taking supplements.

In the original research, the Calcium Polyp Prevention Study, there was a 20% reduction in the risk of developing polyps and a 28% risk reduction in the more dangerous adenomas among the participants who were randomized to take 1200 mg of calcium daily for 4 years. Participants all had previously had polyps removed during a colonoscopy.

Despite the results of this and their earlier study, the researchers say that it is premature to recommend widespread use of calcium supplements for prevention of colorectal cancer.

Maria Grau, M.D. and John Baron, M.D. led the research team at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire. They reported their results to the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on April 18, 2005.

Read a news release from the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Read an article from Reuters Health on Medscape.

Partners can learn to help people with advanced cancer manage pain

Both cancer patients at the end of life and their partners benefit from special training in patrner-guided pain management.

Patients receiving the special education sessions reported less pain, and partners reported less stress. Partners also felt more effective in helping patients manage pain and other symptoms.

Patients and their partners were randomized to receive 3 educational sessions in their homes that emphasized the partner's help in coping with cancer pain at the end of life or to receive ordinary pain care.

Francis J. Keefe, PhD and his colleagues at Duke University Medical Center report their findings in the March, 2005 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

Read an article about the study from Reuters Health.

Read the study abstract in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

Steaming broccoli lightly releases its cancer-fighting properties.

A substance in broccoli called sulforaphane has been shown to reduce cancer risk, particularly risk of developing colorectal cancer. Scientists at the Unversity of Illinois at Urbana have discovered how to release the most sulforaphane from brocolli by steaming it lightly for 3 to 4 minutes. This method of cooking destroys a protein that grabs sulfur from sulforaphane and reduces the amount of the chemical available for use in the body. Cooking brocolli at a high temperature for too long a period of time prevents the vegetable from releasing sulforaphane at all.

Sulforaphane works to prevent cancer by increasing liver enzymes that remove cancer-causing chemicals that are eaten in foods or found in the environment.

Researcher Elizabeth Jeffrey explained, "Much to our excitement, after we had heated it for just a little while, we found we had killed off a protein that nobody knew was there. This protein, named the epithiospecifier protein, had been grabbing sulfur and greatly depleting the amount of sulforaphane in a serving of broccoli."

"The protein was very heat-sensitive, and with a little bit of heat, we killed it off and got an almost perfect yield of sulforaphane, the cancer-fighting component."

Read news of the study from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Read an article about Jeffrey's research in Science Daily.

Colon cancer patients don't understand family risk

Most colon adenoma patients under age 60 do not know that their families are at higher risk for colorectal cancer and should begin earlier screening when they are 40.

Paul Schroy III, MD, MPH and his team surveyed patients under 60 with colon adenomas to find out if they knew their family risk for colorectal cancer and, if so, where they found that information. Only a third of surveyed patients knew that their families were at higher risk and needed to begin screening at an earlier age.

Of the group who knew about family risk, 56% had heard it from their doctors. Most often the patients received the information because they, themselves, sought it out. Eighty-percent (80%) of the knowledgeable group had informed their families about risk and earlier screening. Most (68%) felt that it was an individual's responsibility to do so, not the doctor's.

The study appears in the April 2004 Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

Read an abstract of the study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.