Washington Post writer explains why our general fear of cancer is outdated — and is harmful

Has cancer-phobia become an outdated — and harmful — concept?

In an opinion piece by David Ropeik in editions of The Washington Post earlier this week, the writer maintains that "our cancer phobia [is] a fear that in some ways no longer matches the facts."

David Ropeik

His column explains that we now know "that tens of thousands of common breast, prostate, and thyroid cancers that are detected early never go on to do any harm." 

Still, he writes, people "'over-diagnosed' with these types of cancer are understandably frightened and usually choose more aggressive treatment than their clinical conditions require. Some 'fear-ectomies' cause great harm, leading to side effects that range from moderate to severe and include death itself."

The columnist goes on to say that "we spend an estimate $5.2 billion a year on…clinically unnecessary treatment, 3 percent of the total spent on all cancer care annually."

Ropeik, author of Curing Cancer-phobia: How Risk, Fear, and Worry Mislead Us, maintains that "a diagnosis of cancer is still thought to be a death sentence [despite the fact that] mortality in the United States is down 33 percent in the past three decades [and as] many as two-thirds of all cancers can now be treated as chronic conditions or cured outright."

There apparently are more than 200 types of cancer, which all told kill roughly 600,000 people each year.

Ropeik, a former environmental journalist and retired instructor in the environmental management program at Harvard University's School of Continuing Education, writes that we collectively "have feared cancer more than any other disease since it became the No. 2 cause of death in the United States in the 1920s (after heart disease)."

The writer's opinion piece asserts that although "a majority of people believe that most cancer is caused by environmental carcinogens…we now know that cancer is principally a natural disease of aging, which allows DNA mutations that cause uncontrolled cell growth to accumulate." 

Despite that information, he says, "governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year to reduce the risk from environmental carcinogens [and] we spend billions on organic foods, vitamins, and supplements, as well as many other products that promise to reduce our risk of cancer but don't." 

Ropeik concludes that even though "we cannot absolutely cure cancer, nor will we ever entirely erase our cancer-phobia…we need to understand and battle both the disease and our fear, because both are doing terrible harm."

More information about fear of diseases 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.

Small clinical trial shows promise in pancreatic cancer vaccine, story in New York Times reports

Using a vaccine aimed at each patient's tumor may have delayed the return of pancreatic cancer in half of those who received it in a small clinical trial.

According to a story by Benjamin Mueller in editions of The New York Times from a while ago that I just came across, a study in Nature, "was a landmark in the…movement to make cancer vaccines tailored to the tumors of individual patients."

Dr. Anirban Maitra

Dr. Anirban Maitra, specialist in the disease at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study, is quoted as saying, "This is the first demonstrable success — and I will call it a success despite the preliminary nature of the study — of an mRNA vaccine in pancreatic cancer. By that standard, it's a milestone."

The study only dealt with 16 White patients who were given the vaccine as part of a treatment that also "included chemotherapy and a drug intended to keep tumors from evading people's immune responses," Mueller's story indicated.

Five years ago, when researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York extracted tumors and shipped samples of them to Germany, the study started. In that country, scientists at BioNTech, the company that made a Covid vaccine with Pfizer, analyzed the genetic makeup of certain proteins on the surface of the cancer cells. BioNTech scientists then produced personalized vaccines "designed to teach each patient's immune system to attack the tumors," the Times story reported.

The piece also quoted Dr. Ira Mellman, vice president of cancer immunology at Genentech, which developed the pancreatic cancer vaccine with BioNTech, as saying, "Just establishing the proof of concept that vaccines in cancer can actually do something after, I don't know, 30 years of failure is probably not a bad thing. We'll start with that."

More information about medical research 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. 

All-time tennis great Chris Evert gets second cancer diagnosis, takes a break from ESPN

Chris Evert, one of the tennis world's greatest woman stars, just received a cancer diagnosis — her second.

The 68-year-old International Tennis Hall-of-Famer, according to a story by Glynn A. Hill in yesterday's editions of The Washington Post, is temporarily stepping down from her position as ESPN analyst and will miss the network's coverage of the Australian Open next month.

Chris Evert

Her public announcement, the article says, "came 11 months after Evert declared she was free of ovarian cancer, which she had discovered in January 2022."

The 18-time Gram Slam singles champion, who intends to return to ESPN for its coverage of the rest of the Grand Slam season, is undergoing chemotherapy following another robotic surgery to remove the malignant cells.

Her statement, made through the network, said, "Since I was first diagnosed with cancer…I've been very open about my experience. I wanted to give all of you an update. My cancer is back. While this is a diagnosis I never wanted to hear, I once again feel fortunate that it ws caught early."

She added that she encourages "everyone to know [their] family history and advocate for [themselves]. Early detection saves lives. Be thankful for your health this holiday season." 

Evert, one of the most accomplished players in tennis history, "was ranked first or second in the world from 1975 to 1986 and she became the first player of any gender to win 1,000 singles matches" Hill's story notes.

Evert's first diagnosis was made after a preventive hysterectomy, after which she underwent six cycles of chemo. That helped her bond with her friend, ex-rival Martina Navratilova, who at roughly the same time was diagnosed with early-stage throat and breast cancers. In March of this year, Navratilova declared she was cancer-free.

To learn more about recurring disease, check out Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

New treatment choices provide added hope for gastric cancer patients, Mayo Clinic doc says

An increase in recent treatment options has given new hope for patients of stomach cancer, aka gastric cancer.

A recent article by Jason Howland of the Mayo Clinic News Network quotes Dr. Mohamad Sonbol, an oncologist at the clinic as saying that "I tell patients who have recently been diagnosed with gastric cancer that there is definitely a hope because we've gotten significantly better in the last decade, and more specifically, really, in the last year or two."

Dr. Mohamad Sonbol

Options depend on the cancer's location in the stomach, its size and stage, Howland's story indicates, "but can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy."

If you're a man, the piece also says, you're at higher risk for stomach cancer than if you're a woman. 

Other risk factors include obesity, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

Still other risk factors, says Sonbol, "are some hereditary syndromes or things that we inherit from our parents."

Early signs of stomach cancer vary, the story notes, "and can include abdominal pain, blood in the stool or just feeling tired."

Stomach cancer, the piece maintains, is relative rare in the United States, so it's frequently diagnosed at later stage of the disease "when symptoms like nausea, heartburn and feeling bloated are more pronounced."

More information about disease 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.

Certain foods really can reduce your risk of cancer, American Cancer Society indicates

Many cancers potentially can be prevented by changing your diet, according to the American Cancer Society. 

A story by Nikki Campo in editions of The New York Times early this week indicates that "scientists have a good idea of what foods you should avoid to reduce your risk of cancer, such as red and processed meats, 'fast' or processed foods, alcohol, and sugary drinks."

Johanna Lampe

However, the piece says, "knowing what to at isn't always straightforward," according to Johanna Lampe, a cancer prevention researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

One problem, Lampe says, is that many nutrition studies rely on people to accurately remember what they consumed up to a year ago. Another is that it's tricky to understand how single foods may influence your health when they're part of a larger diet.

The Times story also quotes Nigel Brockton, vice president of research at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C., as saying that although no single food can prevent cancer on its own, following a healthy diet does seem to reduce the risk.

Campo's article lists foods "that experts say are worth adding to your plate." They include broccoli "and its cruciferous cousins" — such as brussels spouts, cauliflower, and cabbage; tomatoes and tomato-based products; black and kidney beans as well as other types of legumes such as chickpeas, dry peas, and lentils; nuts, especially walnuts; strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, pomegranates, and black raspberries; and garlic.

More information on disease prevention ideas 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.

Columnist suggests three strategies that could possibly reduce your risk of contracting cancer

By employing three strategies, you may reduce your cancer risk. 

That, at least, is the opinion of Dr. Jerry Saliman, whose Senior Life column in an earlier-this-month edition of j. the Jewish News of Northern California, focused on those strategies — being on the lookout, catching symptoms early, and paying attention to risky behavioral factors.

Dr. Jerry Saliman

Regarding the first strategy, Saliman writes that unfortunately only four types of cancer screening have received a high-level record recommendation from a U.S. task force: colon, lung, breast, and cervix.

As to the second line of reasoning, the columnist, a Bay Area physician who retired from Kaiser South San Francisco after a 30-year career and now is a volunteer internist at Samaritan House Medical Clinic in San Mateo, suggests that "by catching cancer early, the survival rates may be four times higher compared with later-stage detection."

Saliman adds, about the last strategy, that the American Cancer Society's prevention studies have been crucial in detailing risk factors — including, in the 1950s, being the first to identify smoking as a major reason for cancer. The ACS has since, via its ongoing research, "found that older age and smoking have the highest relative risk for developing any cancer for both men and women."

Additional risks for men, his column says, "are family history of cancer, red meat consumption, alcohol intake, and physical inactivity."

More information on 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.

University of California San Francisco study examines trans prostate cancer risk for first time

A first-of-its-kind study by UCSF researchers finds that transgender women face an increased risk of prostate cancer.

According to a story by Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle a while back, the peril is "small but meaningful."

The article also cautions that "traditional screening tools may not work well for them, especially if they're taking estrogen for gender-affirming care."

The study, published in the journal JAMA last Saturday, is the first in the United States to look at prostate cancer in transgender women., who were born with male sex organs. The Chronicle story indicates that transgender people are "underrepresented in medical research and…experience worse outcomes than cisgender parents for all kinds of health issues."

Stephen Freedland

Allday's piece quotes Dr. Stephen Freedland, an author of the paper and a urologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, to the effect that "there's a misperception, both by patients and clinicians, the because these are women — they identify as women, they look like women — you don't necessarily think you should check for prostate cancer."

The story also quotes Dr. Farnoosh Nik-Ahd, a University of California San Francisco urologist and the lead author of the paper, as saying, "We're still very much at the beginning of how best to care for this population — and it's a population nation that will probably increase, in terms of the number of people owning identifying as transgender."

Allday's article notes that transgenders "remain a highly vulnerable population, a situation potentially made worse with anti-trans legislation being pushed across the United States that could further limit health care access."

Transgender people, who "are thought to make up less than 1% of the [general] population," the story continues, "have been mostly left out of large studies of all kinds of health issues."

More information about prostate research 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.

Younger women are now getting lung cancer at higher rates than men, new study ascertains

According to a story by Dani Blum in editions of The New York Times a few days ago, younger women are now getting lung cancer at higher rates than men — despite an overall drop in the rates of new cases over the last several decades.

The Times piece cites a new study by the American Cancer Society noting that "lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States" and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "estimates that, nationwide, around 197,000 are diagnosed with the disease each year."

Ahmedin Jemal

Blum's story quotes Ahmedin Jemal, an author on the study and senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at the ACS, as indicating that cigarette smoking "remains the leading cause of lung cancer, and while there have been widespread efforts to reduce smoking, women have generally been slower to successfully quit."

Regardless, "about 15 to 20 percent of lung cancer cases in women are among those who have never smoked," Jamal reportedly added.

He suggested that those women may have been exposed to second-hand smoke.

Dr. Jyoti Patel, medical director of thoracic oncology of the Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine, also believes that, according to the story, "women might metabolize carcinogens differently from the way men do."

Furthermore, Blum's piece says, Dr. Patrick Forde, an associate profession of oncology at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, thinks that "air pollution has been linked to lung cancer and it's possible that women could be particularly susceptible to it, for reasons researchers are still working to understand."

The story also contends that ultimately there is no clear-cut explanations for the disparities. "The differences are really not obvious," Dr. Humberto Chi, a pulmonary median doctor at the Cleveland Clinic is quoted. "This is definitely an area for future studies."

Additional information regarding a multiplicity 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.