3 out of 5 liver cancers are preventable, new study discovers; cases could double in 25 years

Sixty percent of the 700,000 people who die each year from liver cancer could be prevented, reports a new study published in the journal Lancet.

That comprehensive research, according to a recent story by Nina Agrawal in The New York Times, finds that "prevention could be accomplished by addressing the disease's major causes: hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol-associated liver disease, and liver disease linked to metabolic risk factors like obesity."

Dr. Brian P. Lee

The Times article quotes Dr. Brian P. Lee, an associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the study, to the effect that "liver cancer is common, it causes immense suffering and death, and the saddest part for me as a physician is that most of the cases are preventable."

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of death each year from cancer. There are nearly 900,000 new annual cases globally, Agrawal's piece indicates.

The story also quotes Dr. Ahmed Kaseb, a professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the University of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who also wasn't associated with the study, as suggesting that the threat of liver cancer from heavy alcohol use and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, "has been under-recognized and underestimated." 

Dr., Hashem El-Serag, chair of the department of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and one of the authors of the new study, maintains that a vast majority of liver cancers arise in people with cirrhosis, advanced and largely irreversible scarring of the liver, which is definitively linked to heavy  alcohol consumption.

More information on the variety of cancers 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. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Medical risks expanding along with waistlines

Cancer dangers from obesity are growing exponentially, article in The Washington Post indicates

Obesity may overtake smoking as the No. 1 preventable cause of cancer.

According to a story by Laurie McKinley in The Washington Post a while back, the change is due to waistlines continuing "to expand while tobacco use plummets."

McKinley notes that Dr. Otis Brawley, ex-American Cancer Society (ACS) chief medical officer who's now a Johns Hopkins oncologist, says the switch may take five to 10 years.

Dr. Jennifer Ligibel

What's happening, she quotes Dr. Jennifer Ligibel, a breast oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as saying, is that "a complex interplay of metabolism, inflammation and immunity…creates an environment that is more permissive for cancer."

The Post also quotes Dr. Jonathan Wright, a urologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, to the effect that "it does appear that the risk is greater the more obese you are."

Only about half the American public purportedly is aware of the link between excess weight and cancer. 

The deadly combo has long been known to increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes — and now is being associated, according to the Post, "with an increased risk of getting at least 13 types of cancer, including stomach, pancreatic, colorectal and liver malignancies, as well as postmenopausal breast cancer."

ACS researchers contend that "excess body weight is linked to about 8 percent of all cancers in the United States and about 7 percent of cancer deaths," McKinley reports.

She also writes that "compared with people of normal weight, obese patients are more likely to see their cancer come back and have a lower likelihood of survival. Perhaps more alarming, young people, who as a group are heavier than their parents, are developing weight-related malignancies, including colorectal cancer, at earlier ages than previous generations, experts say."

An article in JAMA Internal Medicine (the journal of the American Medical Association) several years ago maintained that "seven in 10 Americans are overweight or obese." But the obesity rate has been rising exponentially since that piece was published.

The type of cancer most associated with obesity, McKinley writes, "is endometrial, which develops in the lining of the uterus. Obese and overweight women are two to four times as likely to develop the disease as women of normal weight, and the risk rises with increased weight gain, according to the National Institutes of Health."

Statistics from that source also indicate that "people who are overweight or obese are twice as likely to develop liver and kidney cancer, and about 1.5 times as likely to develop pancreatic cancer than normal-weight people, according to NIH."

Several researchers, McKinley says, "are running clinical trials to prove what many already believe — that losing weight reduces the odds of developing cancer or having a recurrence." 

If studies show that to be true, she adds, "doctors could prescribe a weight-loss program as standard therapy for breast cancer patients — much as cardiac rehabilitation is urged for heart-attack patients. That could pave the way for insurance coverage."

More details on 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.

Data from 1.2 million females reviewed

Daily glass of wine or booze can dramatically raise women's risk of breast cancer, review shows

Having just one glass of wine or another alcoholic drink a day is likely to boost a woman's risk of breast cancer.

That's what a new massive review indicates, according to a story by Laurie McGinley in today's editions of The Washington Post.

The increased risk is considered significant.

Statistically, McGinley's piece says, the difference is "5 percent for pre-menopausal women and 9 percent for post-menopausal women."

Reducing risk is also possible, the story also reports, by vigorous exercise such as running and bicycling.

That information translates, according to the study, into "pre-menopausal women who were the most active [having] a 17 percent lower risk of developing malignancies compared to the least active women, while post-menopausal women had a 10 percent decreased risk."

Why the added or diminished risks?

McGinley writes that "alcohol increases estrogen, which is linked to increased breast-cancer risk, while physical activity reduces it."

The review — done by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund — "evaluated research in 119 studies encompassing data on 12 million women from around the world."

AICR estimated that 1 in 3 cases of breast cancer could be prevented if women didn't drink alcohol, were physically active and maintained a healthy weight.

Anne McTiernan

The Post article cites Anne McTiernan, a cancer-prevention researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and one of the report's lead authors, to the effect that the review "suggests there is no level of alcohol use that is completely safe in terms of breast cancer. If a woman is drinking, it would be better if she kept it to a lower amount."

The review showed, too, that women who are overweight or obese run a higher risk of post-menopausal disease in general. Losing just 10 percent of their weight apparently can reduce blood estrogen and inflammation.

But even a healthy lifestyle is no guarantee.

The Post paraphrased the researcher as saying it's more like wearing a safety belt — with many women doing everything they can to reduce their risks but still get diagnosed with breast cancer.

"That's unfortunate, but that's what happens," the newspaper quoted McTiernan as saying.

Many more risks of breast cancer are outlined in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Mortality disparity up between blacks and whites

Breast cancer incidence among African-American women in U.S. jumps to a new high

Blacks have lower mammogram follow-up rate.

A new study says breast cancer incidence among African-American women in the United States has equaled whites, according to a story by Tara Parker-Hope in The New York Times.

That's bad news because it's been less common (although deadlier) in the past.

The report, from the American Cancer Society (ACS), showed "that advances in diagnosis and treatment that have dramatically improved survival rates from breast cancer and saved countless lives [in whites] have largely bypassed African-American women."

Over all, Parker-Hope's Well blog in the Times said, "a black woman given a breast cancer diagnosis is 42 percent more likely to die from the disease than a white woman with breast cancer."

It also noted that in some major U.S. cities, according to an analysis published last year in "Cancer Epidemiology," the rate is even worse. In Los Angeles, for example, a black woman is "70 percent more likely to die," and in Memphis the risk rate is double that of a white woman.  

Why the disparity?

Black women, the report said, are more likely than white women "to be given a diagnosis with later stage, and less treatable tumors" — and twice as likely as whites "to be found to have an aggressive form of the disease called triple negative breast cancer, which has a poorer prognosis."

According to the Times, "researchers say…rising obesity rates among African-American women may explain some" of the jump — in contrast with a stabilized rate of 33 percent for Caucasians.

Obesity has been connected to a larger "risk of estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers," the type of tumor now being found more in black women, the Parker-Hope piece indicated.

The obesity rate in blacks leapt from 39 percent between 1999 and 2002 to 58 percent from 2009 to 2012.

But other reasons for "the racial divide in breast cancer mortality may be due to…disparities in the quality of care available to black women, who may have less access to quality screen and treatment."

Carol E. DeSantis

In addition, "lower rates of follow-up after a mammogram, cultural distrust of doctors, and lack of insurance coverage among black women may also play a role," Parker-Hope writes.

The Times writer quotes Carol E. DeSantis, senior epidemiologist at the ACS and lead author of the report, as predicting "the widening mortality disparity is likely to continue."

Comparisons between different groups of women can be found in the VitalityPress book I aimed at male caregivers, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer."