Re: good news smokers

OK, before anybody gets too excited...

Point #1: This was an observational study. Observational studies can not
establish causation. There are many possible confounders, such as the well
established relationship between high fruit and vegetable consumption and
other healthy behaviors, such as exercise.

Point #2: The study found no affect for current smokers. It only found a
POSSIBLE affect for "never smokers" and "former smokers." See paragraphs 5
& 6. We already know that people who never smoke have a much lower risk of
lung cancer and people who have quit experience a linear reduction in risk
associated with the length of time since the last cigarette. We also know
that people who quit engage in other healthy activities, such as eating more
fruits and vegetables

Point #3: M.D. Anderson has a well deserved reputation for overstating the
significance of the research conducted there in order to attract patients
and donations.

Bottom line: This study establishes nothing. It only suggests a possible
course for future research.

Walt

"Mary Z" <mzuschlag@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:096lj1tgmjcnrrnhhv139qqlomo6gth7qs@xxxxxxxxxx
> NPR did a great job covering this last night. Even better is to quite
> smoking but I suspect you have heard that ad nauseum.
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4866208
>
>
> Veggies, fruit may ward off lung cancer
>
>
>
> BY DELTHIA RICKS
> STAFF WRITER
>
> September 28, 2005
>
>
> Bolstering the diet with fruits, vegetables and legumes rich in
> plant-based estrogens tends to protect against lung cancer,
> researchers report in an analysis published today.
>
> Conducted by a team of cancer-prevention researchers at M.D. Anderson
> Cancer Center in Houston, the analysis marks one of the few studies -
> and to date the largest - to examine dietary effects on lung tumor
> development. Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related
> deaths in men and women in the United States.
>
> Plant-based estrogens, or phytoestrogens, come in three main classes:
> isoflavones, lignans and cumestrans, with isoflavones and lignans the
> most widely seen in nature. All act as weak estrogens with varying
> capacities to influence the life and death of cells.
>
> Isoflavones, the most common, are found in a range of foods,
> especially soybeans, chickpeas, yams and red clover. Lignan sources
> include spinach, broccoli, tea, carrots and rye grains. Cumestrans are
> found in beans, peas, spinach and sprouts.
>
> "Basically we found that people with lung cancer were less likely to
> consume these foods," said Matthew Schabath, a postdoctoral fellow
> specializing in cancer prevention.
>
> "What we saw was quite interesting in terms of protective effects in
> 'never smokers' and former smokers," Schabath added. But for reasons
> that could not be easily explained, benefits were not apparent in
> current smokers, according to the findings, reported in today's issue
> of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
>
> Schabath and colleagues studied 1,674 lung cancer patients and 1,735
> people without the disease from July 1995 to October 2003.
> Participants answered questionnaires on food frequency. Researchers
> were particularly interested in quantifying dietary intake of specific
> phytoestrogens.
>
> "Phytoestrogens have a variety of protective effects that have been
> shown in experimental models [lab animals] and lab models [Petri
> dishes] to have various chemo-effects," Schabath said.
>
> Some of those effects have been as antioxidants, which means they can
> inhibit the prevalence of rogue oxygen molecules called free radicals.
> Schabath defined other effects of weak estrogens as limiting
> angiogenesis, the growth of blood vessels required by tumors and
> inducing programmed cell death.
>
> Schabath pointed to Asians who consume robust quantities of
> phytoestrogens, especially in the form of soy-based foods, as having
> lower rates of cancer.
>
> But while that may be true for many types of malignancies it is not so
> for lung cancer, especially in China, where the disease has reached
> epidemic proportions. The World Health Organization estimates the
> number of lung cancer patients in China will increase by 1 million a
> year through 2025.
>
> A second study in the same issue by researchers in Denmark found that
> cutting the number of cigarettes smoked daily could reduce lung cancer
> risk for those who cannot completely break the habit.
>
> Doctors Lawrence Dacey and David Johnstone of Dartmouth-Hitch***
> Medical Center in New Hampshire wrote in a critique of both analyses
> that while the phytoestrogen findings are good news, the old "stop
> smoking" message is even better.
>
>
>
>
> Visit my website:
> http://www.mzuschlag.com


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