The Solace of Solar-Powered Medicine (the sequel)
Just a few weeks ago (Daily Dose, 3/1/2005), I wrote to you about how sunshine exposure has been shown by a new study to actually prevent melanoma, the dreaded type of skin cancer that the buffoonish medical mainstream has sent everyone and their mother scrambling for sunscreen in recent years. Ironically, the study was designed to prove that sunlight CAUSED the deadly cancer - but strongly suggested that the exact opposite is in fact likely to be true!
In that same Dose, I told you about another recent study that shows how sunlight and its Vitamin D-producing benefits offer you powerful cancer-fighting benefits below the skin, too - contributing to a reduced incidence of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a deadly blood cancer...
But that's not ALL the good news, boys and girls - sunlight's on a roll so far in 2005! Listen to this:
According to a study presented at a February cancer conference and reported recently by the Associated Press, mature men with higher levels of blood-borne Vitamin D were HALF AS LIKELY to die of prostate cancer as those with less of the "sunshine vitamin" in their bodies.
Based on the analysis of data from 15,000 men over an 18-year study period, researchers from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School concluded that men in this group who had the highest levels of two key forms of vitamin D in their blood were 50% less likely to develop aggressive prostate tumors (the kind that kill) than men with lower levels of the two - or elevated levels of only one of the two.
Dare I hope that finally, the mainstream's coming around on sunlight (or so it would seem recently)?
I can keep my fingers crossed, but I'm afraid this latest bit of good news about the sun is nothing more than the musings of a bunch of winter-weary eastern journalists wishing they were on a beach somewhere. I know in my heart of hearts that come June, they'll all be singing the praises of Blu-blockers, parasols, and SPF 4000.
Oh well, I can hope it's not so, right? And speaking of things the mainstream says are "bad" for you being good weapons in the fight against cancer...
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Japanese java jubilation
If you've been with me for any time at all, you know I'm a major fan of a good cuppa Joe, despite the fact that the medical mainstream's quick to malign it. In the past, I've sung the praises of the "miracle bean" for such ills as Parkinson's disease and stroke damage control, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, and even such mundane things as stress control and muscle pain and soreness...
I've even told you about studies showing coffee's effectiveness against certain types of cancer - like colon and bladder varieties. And now, you can add another kind of cancer to the "joy-of-java" list:
Liver cancer.
A 10-year study of more than 90,000 Japanese citizens conducted by Tokyo's National Cancer Center revealed that those who drank coffee regularly (as in every day) were LESS THAN HALF AS LIKELY to develop liver cancer as those who downed hot java only sporadically, or not at all. The study backs up a similar finding animal research has suggested in the past, according to an Associated Press report on the research.
The study did not conclude whether it was coffee's abundant antioxidants or powerful caffeine (or some other component) that rendered the cancer-preventive benefits, but past research has shown both to aid in the battle against cancer and other diseases. One study in a group of laboratory rats even showed that a skin cream spiked with caffeine helped prevent skin cancer!
Bottom line: Coffee's good for you - in many ways and for many reasons. You should be draining a mug or three of it every morning for best health, especially if you're heavy in cancer risk factors (or just worried about it).
Defending the "Average Joe" against the mainstream's myths,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
