Treadmill Desks More Effective in Decreasing Prostate Cancer Risks Than Vitamin and Antioxidant Supplements
On the heels of announcements two weeks ago that vitamin supplements A thru E were found ineffective in preventing various forms of cancers come two more medical announcements with the same conclusions regarding prostate cancer. While supplementation strategies have been shown conclusively to fail in this regard long standing studies have proven that a regimen of daily walking is effective in lowering the risk of prostate cancer.
The National Cancer Institute states that regular walking will reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 10% to 30% and that sedentary lifestyles greatly increase the risk of developing this disease. Obese men are much more likely to die from from prostate cancer further indicating the importance of exercise and weight management. With more than 50% of the adult male population bound to desk jobs that prevent adequate daily exercise the challenge is finding a means of invoking exercise into the work day. Treadmill desks offer a solution that merits serious consideration.
Treadmill desks allow employees to walk at slow speeds (without sweating) and perform all of the tasks they complete at a regular desk. Some of the benefits of walking during the day on a treadmill desk include:
*increased levels of energy
* increased levels of productivity and concentration
*improvements in overall mood
* increased cognitive function
* weight loss
* disease prevention
The 12 year study out of the University of Texas involved 50,000 men analyzing the benefits of Selenium and Vitamins E supplementation was halted prematurely when it was discovered that they offered absolutely no benefit to prostate cancer prevention. Additionally, a study by Harvard scientists following 14,641 doctors aged 50 and over proved ineffective when testing the effects of Vitamin C and E on prostate cancer prevention.
Not only were supplements shown as an ineffective substitute for a healthy diet but there is a risk they may have a detrimental effect on the body according to Dr. Jodie Moffat from the Cancer Research Center UK, “supplements don’t substitute for a healthy diet and some studies have shown that they may actually increase the risk of cancer.”
Walking has also been shown previously to have a statistically significant impact on the prevention of colon, prostate and breast cancers along with a multitude of other major diseases. It appears that Hippocrates was right, walking truly is man’s best medicine.
Categories: Breast Cancer Risks Tags: Antioxidant, cancer, Decreasing, Desks, Effective, more, prostate, Risks, Supplements, than, treadmill, Vitamin
Antioxidant Levels Key To Prostate Cancer Risk In Some Men
Greater levels of selenium, vitamin E and the tomato carotenoid lycopene have been shown to reduce prostate cancer in one out of every four Caucasian males, or those who inherit a specific genetic variation that is particularly sensitive to oxidative stress, say US researchers.
Conversely, if carriers of this genetic variant have low levels of these vitamins and minerals, their risk of aggressive prostate increases substantially, as great as 10-fold, over those who maintain higher levels of these nutrients, they write in today’s issue of Cancer Research.
“This large prospective study provides further evidence that oxidative stress may be one of the important mechanisms for prostate cancer development and progression, and adequate intake of antioxidants, such as selenium, lycopene and vitamin E, may help prevent prostate cancer,” said Dr Haojie Li, a researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
The new findings are based on an analysis of 567 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1982 and 1995, and 764 cancer-free men from the Physicians Health Study.
The initial goal of this study was to assess the effect of aspirin and beta-carotene on men’s health. Li’s team decided to check for variants of the gene that codes for manganese superoxide dismutatase (MnSOD), an important enzyme that works as an antioxidant in human cells to defend against disease.
The MnSOD gene is passed from parents to offspring in one of three forms: VV, VA or AA.
“Compared with men with the MnSOD VV or VA genotype, people with the AA genotype seem to be more sensitive to the antioxidant status,” said Li. “Men with the AA genotype are more susceptible to prostate cancer if their antioxidant levels are low.”
The study’s results found that a quarter of the men in the study carried the MnSOD AA genotype, half carried the VA genotype, and the remaining quarter carried the VV genotype.
The results indicated that the VA and VV men were at equivalent risk for developing prostate cancer across all levels of antioxidants in their blood.
But compared to MnSOD VV or VA carriers in the lowest quartile of selenium levels, MnSOD AA males had an 89 per cent greater risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer if they had low blood levels of the mineral.
On the other hand, MnSOD AA carriers with high selenium – those men in the highest quartile – had a 65 per cent lower risk than the MnSOD VV or VA males who maintained low levels of selenium.
“The levels of selenium in the highest quartile of these men are not abnormally high,” Li said. “Our range is neither extremely high nor extremely low.”
While similar trends were observed for lycopene and vitamin E when tested independently, the contrast in relative risk was most pronounced for the men who had high blood levels for all three antioxidants combined, said the researchers.
“Among men with the MnSOD AA genotype, we observed a 10-fold difference in risk for aggressive prostate cancer, when comparing men with high versus low levels of antioxidants combined,”said Li. “In contrast, among men with the VV or VA genotype, the prostate cancer risk was only weakly altered by these antioxidant levels.”
“Our study, as well as many other epidemiological studies, encourages dietary intake of nutrients such as lycopene from tomato products, or supplements for vitamin E and selenium to reduce risk of prostate cancer,” said Li.
Prostate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers in industrial countries and affects more than 500,000 men worldwide every year. This number is expected to increase with the ageing population.
Similar interactions between dietary antioxidants and the variations in the MnSOD gene have previously been linked to risk for breast cancer.
For more information visit: Prostacet
Categories: Genetic Testing For Breast Cancer Tags: Antioxidant, cancer, Levels, prostate, Risk, some
Antioxidant Levels Are Key To Prostate Cancer Risk In Men
Greater levels of selenium, vitamin E and the tomato carotenoid lycopene have been shown to reduce prostate cancer in one out of every four Caucasian males, or those who inherit a specific genetic variation that is particularly sensitive to oxidative stress, say US researchers.
Conversely, if carriers of this genetic variant have low levels of these vitamins and minerals, their risk of aggressive prostate increases substantially, as great as 10-fold, over those who maintain higher levels of these nutrients, they write in today’s issue of Cancer Research.
“This large prospective study provides further evidence that oxidative stress may be one of the important mechanisms for prostate cancer development and progression, and adequate intake of antioxidants, such as selenium, lycopene and vitamin E, may help prevent prostate cancer,” said Dr Haojie Li, a researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
The new findings are based on an analysis of 567 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1982 and 1995, and 764 cancer-free men from the Physicians Health Study.
The initial goal of this study was to assess the effect of aspirin and beta-carotene on men’s health. Li’s team decided to check for variants of the gene that codes for manganese superoxide dismutatase (MnSOD), an important enzyme that works as an antioxidant in human cells to defend against disease.
The MnSOD gene is passed from parents to offspring in one of three forms: VV, VA or AA.
“Compared with men with the MnSOD VV or VA genotype, people with the AA genotype seem to be more sensitive to the antioxidant status,” said Li. “Men with the AA genotype are more susceptible to prostate cancer if their antioxidant levels are low.”
The study’s results found that a quarter of the men in the study carried the MnSOD AA genotype, half carried the VA genotype, and the remaining quarter carried the VV genotype.
The results indicated that the VA and VV men were at equivalent risk for developing prostate cancer across all levels of antioxidants in their blood.
But compared to MnSOD VV or VA carriers in the lowest quartile of selenium levels, MnSOD AA males had an 89 per cent greater risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer if they had low blood levels of the mineral.
On the other hand, MnSOD AA carriers with high selenium – those men in the highest quartile – had a 65 per cent lower risk than the MnSOD VV or VA males who maintained low levels of selenium.
“The levels of selenium in the highest quartile of these men are not abnormally high,” Li said. “Our range is neither extremely high nor extremely low.”
While similar trends were observed for lycopene and vitamin E when tested independently, the contrast in relative risk was most pronounced for the men who had high blood levels for all three antioxidants combined, said the researchers.
“Among men with the MnSOD AA genotype, we observed a 10-fold difference in risk for aggressive prostate cancer, when comparing men with high versus low levels of antioxidants combined,”said Li. “In contrast, among men with the VV or VA genotype, the prostate cancer risk was only weakly altered by these antioxidant levels.”
“Our study, as well as many other epidemiological studies, encourages dietary intake of nutrients such as lycopene from tomato products, or supplements for vitamin E and selenium to reduce risk of prostate cancer,” said Li.
Prostate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers in industrial countries and affects more than 500,000 men worldwide every year. This number is expected to increase with the ageing population.
Similar interactions between dietary antioxidants and the variations in the MnSOD gene have previously been linked to risk for breast cancer.
For more information visit: The Official Protacet Website
Categories: Genetic Testing For Breast Cancer Tags: Antioxidant, cancer, Levels, prostate, Risk