If older female cancer survivors sit less and move more, they can reduce their chances of death

Sitting less and moving more can decrease the risks of death in older female cancer survivors, a new study reports.

The findings were outlined recently at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.

 

Dr. Keith Diaz

According to a recent story in the AHA news, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and other causes for older women with a history of cancer can be dramatically lowered. The piece goes on to quote Dr. Keith Diaz, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York as saying that "walking —  at any intensity — matters."

Many adults, says Diaz, who was not involved in the study that combines two studies that followed 2,379 post-menopausal women for about eight years, "now spend the majority of  their day sitting, not engaged in physical activity. And for cancer survivors, this issue is likely even more pronounced due to the physical toll of cancer treatment and recovery."

Sedentary behavior, the AHA News report notes, raises the risk considerably: "Every 102 minutes of sitting time per day was linked to a 30% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 12% higher risk of death from any cause."

AHA and federal guidelines "recommend adults engage in moderate physical activity for at least 150 minutes each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a combination of both."

The story also says that "researchers found that benefits maxed out at 5,000 to 6,000 steps per day and one hour of moderate to vigorous  physical activity a day."

But at least "one hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day, such as  biking or brisk walking, reduced the risk of death from heart disease and stroke by 60%, as well as 40% from any cause."

The women in the study averaged 74 years of age. Half had been diagnosed with breast cancer and the rest had other cancers, including endometrial, lung, colon, and ovarian.

Discussing the study's shortcomings, Dr. Eric Hyde, lead study author and a research analyst at the University of California, San Diego, suggests that "in future studies, physical activity should be measured at several critical time points, such as before cancer diagnosis, during treatment, and after treatment." 

 

More information on cancer in older females can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of  70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter.

Bayer must pay more than $2 billion in suit linking Roundup herbicide to cancer, jury says

A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto's parent company to pay more than $2 billion in a suit linking a pesticide to cancer.

According to an Associated Press story by Wyatt Grantham-Philips that recently appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, penalties awarded "to a man who says the company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer" include $65 million in compensatory damages, $2 billion in punitive damages.

Bayer AG, the agrochemical giant, intends to appeal the decision that sent its stock plunging 8% immediately after the verdict.

That recent verdict is "the latest in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide," the article says, and "marks one of the the largest verdicts in a Roundup-related case to date."

John Barnes

The piece goes on to say that the plaintiff, John Barnes, filed the suit in 2021, seeking damages because of his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It quotes his attorney, Kyle Findley of Arnold & Itkin LLP, as calling the verdict "an important milestone [because it illuminates] another example of Monsanto's refusal to accept responsibility for poisoning people with this toxic product."

Findley also charged that the Barnes case showed "many years of cover-ups [and] backroom dealings."  

Bayer, a German-based company that acquired Monsanto in 2018 and "has been hit with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weed killer and set aside $16 billion to settle cases," according to Wyatt Grantham-Philips, will continue"to stand fully behind the safety" of the Roundup product line.

In the meantime, Bayer, reports an environmental website, The New Lede, is hopeful that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, will soon sign controversial legislation recently passed by state lawmakers to bar people from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn them of health risks, as long as the product labels are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Opponents say the legislation will rob farmers and others who use pesticides from holding companies accountable in court if their pesticide products cause disease or injury."

Additional information on Monsanto and its herbicides can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6 to 10-year-olds.

Criticism is rife over contentious federal study that finds 'any alcohol use' can cause cancer

Even "low levels" of alcohol consumption can cause cancer and are associated with a higher risk of death, a controversial federal study intended to be a basis of a 2025 revision of U.S. Dietary Guidelines has found.

U.S. Rep Mike Thompson (D-Napa)

A recent story by Esther Mobley and Jess Lander in the San Francisco Chronicle online indicates that U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) warned last week of his concern "that the agencies in charge of researching and producing our updated dietary guidelines created a new, less transparent review process to issue alcohol consumption guidance to Americans."

His comments were in regard to the study, published by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD), that has drawn significant amounts of criticism.

Since 1980, the Chronicle article says, federal dietary guidelines "have stated that one drink a day is safe for women, and two drinks a day is safe for men."

But the ICCPUD findings sharply contrast with those from another report, published in December 2024 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) that found "moderate drinkers have a lower risk of death than nondrinkers," the piece adds.

According to the Mobley-Lander story, NASEM had concluded that "moderate drinking is linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, and with as higher risk of breast cancer, but not other cancers."

The new 81-page document claims, meanwhile, that "the risk of dying from alcohol use begins at low levels of average use [while] higher levels of alcohol consumption are linked with progressively higher mortality risk" — a tenfold increase, in fact.

Who to believe?

Tiffany Hall, board chair of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, charged Wednesday that "the ICCPUD report highlights the critical need to reduce alcohol harms by properly informing the public of the health risks of consuming alcohol. The fact that any amount of alcohol is harmful to your health can no longer be ignored."

Widespread speculation exists that new guidelines might echo the World Health Organization's 2022 declaration that "there is no safe level of alcohol consumption."

Information on other reports of health risks can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.  

Three more books of mine are MysteryDates®, a look at how you can keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, an anthology of 70 newspaper columns I wrote; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical children's fantasy about a sorcerer and two fairies that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Details can be found at https://woodyweingarten.com/.

EPA bans 2 cancer-causing chemicals used in everyday products — like dry-cleaning agents

While still under the aegis of Joe Biden,  the EPA banned two cancer-causing chemicals used in everyday products; now, many observers believe, it's only a matter of time until Donald Trump tries to revoke that decision.

The chemicals — perc, an industrial solvent used commonly in dry cleaning, and TCE, a substance found in consumer and manufacturing products (including de-greasing agents) — are known carcinogens, according to a recent story by Amudalat Ajasa in The Washington Post.

For instance, TCE, formally known as trichloroethylene, is associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, and kidney and liver cancers. The substance also is found in furniture care and auto repair products.

Perc, also known as PCE and perchloroethylene, is a solvent long used in applications of auto repair as well as in dry cleaning.

The two chemicals apparently have been seeping into the environment through the soil and waterways.

Michal Freedhoff, PhD

The Post article quotes Michal Freedhoff, the Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safe and Pollution Protection and a PhD, to the effect that "the bans will protect workers, consumers, and residents from the chemical's harms."

Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, a senior attorney at Earth Justice is also quoted: "Both of these chemicals have caused too much harm for too long, despite the existence of safer alternatives."

More information about carcinogens in the environment can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, its author, aimed at male caregivers.

'MysteryDates®' wins publishers’ association award for best cover of a nonfiction book

MysteryDates®, a VitalityPress book that carries the subtitle “How to keep the sizzle in your relationship,” recently won a BAIPA contest for best nonfiction cover.

It’s the second time VitalityPress books illustrated by Joe Marciniak and written by me, Woody Weingarten, have won cover awards from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association. The first time was for a whimsical children’s fantasy, Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, which was co-written by my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, when she was 8 years old.

 

MysteryDates is both a memoir and a travel guide with hundreds of tips on what to do, how to do it, and where to go — locally, nationally, globally.

I’ve also written two other books, The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of the best newspaper columns I’ve written, and Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer, which is a combination love story and guide to research, meds, and help.

 

For more information, or to order any of the four books, go to woodyweingarten.com.

FDA, citing cancer link in rats, bans red dye in food, beverages, and drugs — but not until 2027

The Federal Drug Administration has banned Red Dye No. 3 in food, beverages, and drugs after linking the chemical to cancer in rats.

According to a subhead in a recent edition of The New York Times online, consumer and food safety groups "have long urged the agency to revoke the use of this dye and others."

Why it's being banned is still a bit of a mystery since the FDA has also claimed that studies show the dye causes cancer in rats but not humans, says the Times story by Andrew Jacobs and Teddy Rosenbluth. Under federal rules, the FDA "is prohibited from approving food additives that cause cancer in humors or animals."

The FDA action calls for companies to begin removing the dye from their products in 2027, the article notes, "more than three decades after the synthetic coloring was first found to cause cancer in male laboratory rats." In 1990, the agency banned the chemical for use in cosmetics and topical drugs.

The petroleum-based additive has been used to give candy, soda and other products "their vibrant cherry red hue," the Jacobs-Rosenbluth piece explains.

Jim Jones

Jim Jones, the FDA's deputy commissioner for human foods, declares in a statement that claims Red Dye No. 3 "puts people at risk are not supported by the available scientific information."

Thomas Galligan, principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says "the agency's failure to act sooner was partly the result of industry opposition to a ban, but also reflected chronic underfunding of food safety at the FDA," the Times article reports. And he's quoted as adding, "The FDA has a track record of allowing unsafe chemicals to linger in our food supply long after evidence of harm emerges. And part of the reason for that is that the agency lacks a robust system for reevaluating the safety of chemicals that have already been approved."

According to Jacobs and Rosenbluth, "a big chunk of the blame also falls on Congress for failing to provide the authority and the resources the FDA needs to do its job to protect public health."

Artificial dyes and food additives have been a target for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated big President Trump to be health secretary.

More information about disease-causing agents can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Three other books of mine are MysteryDates®, a look at how you can keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, an anthology of 70 newspaper columns I wrote; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical children's fantasy about a sorcerer and two fairies that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Details can be found at https://woodyweingarten.com/.

Blogger Woody Weingarten celebrates Nancy Fox''s 85th birthday at lunch with her daughter

Woody, Laura, and Nancy.

Today would have been the 85th birthday of my wife, Nancy Fox. I laughed aloud and wept with her daughter, Laura Schifrin, at lunch in one of Nance’s favorite restaurants. 

Most of my days are like that now — up and down, up and down, just like the rollercoaster we rode for more than three decades while we celebrated an extraordinarily happy marriage, life, and journey joined at the hip.

Nancy died May 2. I miss her more than words will ever convey. 

Having finished her cancer chemo treatment, Princess Kate plans more public engagements

Britain's Princess Kate says her chemotherapy treatment for cancer is complete, so she intends to do more public appearances.

That information appears in a story by Karla Adam in editions of The Washington Post earlier this week.

The past nine months, Kate Middleton says, "have been incredibly tough for us as a family."

Princess Kate

Kate — more formally known as Catherine, Princess of Wales, has largely been out of public view since Christmas. 

Buckingham Palace insists the royal is entitled to her medical privacy, and she's not disclosed the site of the cancer.

The princess, who's in line to be a future queen, is expected to at least "attend a Remembrance Sunday service, a fixture of the royal calendar that commemorates those who died in Britain's wars," the Post piece notes.

Kate released the chemo information via a three-minute video. "The cancer journey," she says in the voice-over, "is complex, scary, and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you. With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything."

She then adds, "To all those who are continuing their own cancer journey — I remain with you."

A spokesperson for the palace says that King Charles III and Queen Camilla consider the announcement details "to be wonderful news" and will continue to offer "love, thoughts, and support to the princess on her continued path to full recovery."

The king, her father-in-law, was diagnosed with his own cancer earlier this year. He returned to a schedule of public engagements in April on a basis more limited than usual.

Additional information about the multi-pronged disease can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed particularly at male caregivers.