On Friday, at the Cancer Survivorship Research Conference in Washington, D.C., much discussion revolved around the fact that cancer survivors are turning to the Internet for help. Wen-ying Sylvia Chou of the National Cancer Institute said according to a recent survey, cancer survivors who have access to the Internet are more likely to search for health-related information than people without cancer.

Among young people living with cancer, social networking sites are replacing the peer and support groups that connect survivors. One such site, Planet Cancer, targets cancer survivors between the ages of 20 and 40.

Another social networking site that is open to all age groups is the Know Cancer Community, which features an inspirational blog about fighting cancer and a forum for members to share ideas.

Young survivors are also finding out cancer information from video games, said Brandon Hayes-Latin, an MD from Oregon Health Sciences University.  In a research trial, young cancer patients who played a game called Re-Mission ncreased their understanding of cancer and better adhered to treatment guidelines, compared to survivors who didn’t play the game. The game is free to download or order for young adults with cancer on the Re-Mission website.

Cancer survivors can also find online information on common questions related to diet and physical activity at the Cancer Patients and Survivors section of the AICR website.

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Steve the AICR Librarian scours the net for the latest developments in the study of cancer risk as it relates to diet, physical activity and weight.  Here’s his latest roundup.

ALCOHOL

Drinking Alcohol Linked to Unhealthy Diet

BREAST CANCER

Multivitamins Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

Preventing Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women by Achievable Diet Modification: A missed opportunity in public health policy.

CANCER PATIENTS

Promising Hormone May Help Reduce Malnutrition in Gastric Cancer Patients

Effect of Medical Staff’s Advice on Changing Dietary Behavior in Women with Cancer (Hungary)

CONSUMERS

Cultural Occasions for Snacking

OFFBEAT

Diet of Contaminated InsectsHarms Endangered Meat-Eating Plants

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Steve the AICR Librarian regularly combs the net for news relevant to our mission.

We love getting these updates, because they help us keep on top of the latest developments.  They also provide fodder for discussion both internally (ie, around the watercooler) and externally (ie, in AICR publications like Cancer Research Update and eNews.)

We figured we shouldn’t keep Steve’s hard work to ourselves, so here’s his latest roundup.  Hope you find it as useful as we do.

COLON CANCER

Mayo Researchers Link Obesity To Worse Outcome In Patients Being Treated For Colon Cancer

Magnesium may decrease colon cancer risk: Study

Lifestyle factors and p53 mutation patterns in colorectal cancer patients in the EPIC-Norfolk study.

CONSUMERS

Cancer Survivorship, Diet, Research, Weight Hide

In the latest issue of Cancer Research Update, AICR’s biweekly email newsletter on the science of cancer prevention, treatment and survival, we asked cancer researchers and educators to answer one, simple question:

What do we know today that we didn’t know just 10 years ago?

Their answers might surprise you – they surprised us.  Although epidemiologists, clinicians, basic researchers and health professionals differ on what they believe to be the most important achievement in the past ten years, they agreed on one thing:  It’s never been clearer that diet, physical activity and a healthy weight all play an important protective role.

Check out the article – and subscribe to Cancer Research Update today.

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This week’s study of soy consumption and breast cancer survivors in China has gotten some attention.

Over on the AICR website, we bottom-line the study results, and provide some evidence-based, practical advice for women who have had, or who are high risk for, breast cancer.

Note:  Soy is one of several much-studied foods featured on the Foods That Fight Cancer? section of the AICR website.

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Dr. June Stevens is the American Institute for Cancer Research/World Cancer Research Fund Distinguished Professor at the AICR/WCRF Institute for the Advanced Study of Diet, Nutrition and Cancer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She oversees AICR’s Marilyn Gentry Fellowship Program, which seeks to develop tomorrow’s leaders in nutrition-cancer research.

Last week, she chaired a session at the 2009 AICR Research Conference called, “From Policy to Action in Cancer Prevention.” We caught up with her at lunch to ask her about the session, and about the research that’s revealing how best to translate the findings from laboratory studies and clinical trials into practical, actionable advice for the public.

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Dietitian Alice Bender‘s job here at AICR is to take the research we fund and turn it into practical advice for the public.  Last week was the first time Alice attended an AICR Research Conference.  She attended sessions, blogged a bit, hosted one of the roundtable discussions which were created to help the health professionals who attended our conference network with one another, and anchored our press conference, where she released the results of AICR’s biennial survey on cancer risk factors.

Now that the conference is behind us and things are starting to settle down, we were eager to get her impressions.

Q: What was the most exciting part of the conference for you?

A: Finishing the press conference (laughs)– because once it was over I could really  focus on the research that was being presented.  Actually, there were many highlights – the first one was dinner with [AICR Nutrition Advisor] Karen Collins and Diana Dyer [a cancer survivor/RD and longtime friend of AICR; sales of Diana's book go towards an special endowment at AICR for research on cancer survivorship.]  It was an exhilarating conversation that stretched to four hours before we knew it — we talked about all kinds of things related to nutrition, organics, sustainability and AICR.

Q: This was your first AICR conference. How’d it compare to what you expected?

A: It was even better than thought it would be. I knew there were going to be many presentation on basic research, but I was surprised — pleasantly so — to see the talks including so much applied information.  It was a nice mix of the science and its real-world implications.

After the jump: Alice talks networking, messaging and new technologies. (more…)

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Several AICR-funded researchers came to our conference last week to present their latest findings in the poster session:

Dr. Emmanuel T. Akporiaye of the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center in Portland, Oregon, updated us on the progress of his grant examining the effect of a derivative of vitamin E on breast cancer tumors. (Earlier this year, we profiled Dr. A in AICR’s biweekly e-newsletter Cancer Research Update.  A longer version of that interview appeared in this Summer’s AICR ScienceNow newsletter.)

Dr. Nameer B. Kirma of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio presented data from his work with soy components and breast cancer.

Dr. Meghan M. Mensack is using an AICR grant at the Colorado State University to study the anti-cancer potential of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L)

Lots more AICR-funded scientists, after the jump.

(more…)

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At our Research Conference last week, we were honored to have Kathryn H. Schmitz, PhD, MPH, FACSM give a talk on strategies for promoting physical activity among cancer survivors.

It was Dr. Schmitz’s PAL (Physical Activity and Lymphedema) Trial that showed that survivors with lymphedema (swelling of the limbs) could benefit from gradual, closely supervised weight training – a finding that challenged the conventional wisdom that lymphedema sufferers should avoid weight-bearing exercise.  She published her findings in the August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  We profiled this research in the latest issue of AICR’s ScienceNow newsletter.

But that doesn’t mean that women who have, or who are at high risk for lymphedema, should just head to the gym and start lifting away.  We caught up with Dr. Schmitz at lunch, and she talked about two online resources to help these women get the guidance they need.

www.lymphnet.org – The National Lymphedema Network. Find physical therapists trained in lymphedema issues.

www.strengthandcourage.net – Order a DVD on exercise after breast cancer surgery – includes many of the exercises used in Dr. Schmitz’s PAL trial.

For more general advice about diet and physical activity during and after cancer, don’t forget to check out the AICR/New York Presbyterian Hospital DVD, Food For the Fight: Guidelines for Healthy Nutrition During and After Cancer Treatment

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On Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6, AICR staff members will be liveblogging from the floor of our 20th Annual Research Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer.

Keep checking www.aicrblog.org for updates on a host of cancer research topics, including:

• New results from clinical trials on cancer prevention and cancer survivorship
• Cancer-fighting compounds in turmeric, ginger and other herbs, spices and fruits
• The latest on bioenergetics (the study of how our cells use energy) and cancer
• Translating cancer prevention policy into action
• The role of physical activity in cancer prevention and cancer survival

We’ll also post conference pictures, interviews with researchers and offer highlights from the AICR press conference on obesity.

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