JustCare

Tag: Alcohol

  • Colorectal cancer: How to minimize your risk

    Colorectal cancer: How to minimize your risk

    Fewer American’s over 65 have been getting colorectal cancer in the last 30 years. Older adults are getting screened and are more aware of the need to take care of themselves. But, colorectal cancer is rising among younger Americans at a rapid pace, writes Dr. Alessandro Fichera at healthmatters.nyp.org

    Some people have a genetic predisposition to colorectal cancer. If you have a family history of a mother, father or sibling with polyps, you are at an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Get screened early, at least ten years sooner than your relative was diagnosed.

    Diet plays a significant role in whether you get colorectal cancer. Your diet can inflame your gut and your bowels. This inflammation can cause colorectal cancer. To some extent, you can minimize your risk of colorectal cancer by eating healthy.

    Here’s what to eat for a healthier colon:
    • Foods with fiber, such as plant-based foods, including fruits and vegetables such as kale, leafy greens, spinach
    • Whole grains
    • Seafood
    • Nuts and berries
    Here’s what not to eat for a healthier colon.
    • Avoid ultraprocessed foods
    • Avoid foods high in fat, particularly animal fat
    • Avoid red meat and processed meat, particularly hot dogs, salami, cold cuts and bacon
    • Avoid sugary drinks, particularly foods with high fructose corn syrup
    • Avoid alcohol
    • Avoid smoking
    About four percent of men and women in the US will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Overall, the rate of people being newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer is declining (36.5 per 100,000,) as is the death rate (12.9 per 100,000) from colorectal cancer. There were nearly 153,000 Americans newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2024, representing 7.6 percent of all new cancer cases.

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  • New research finds link between drinking alcohol and cancer

    New research finds link between drinking alcohol and cancer

    Americans continue to drink a lot of alcohol. To quantify it in economic terms, we spend about $250 billion a year on our liquor. But, it’s probably time we cut down our alcohol consumption. The latest research supports the mounting evidence that drinking alcohol is linked to cancer, reports Robert Shmerling, MD for Harvard Health.

    NB: Moderate drinking comes with risks, but less than half of Americans know this. More research is needed on alcohol’s clear risks. No research shows that drinking alcohol has a causal effect on our health. It simply shows an association between those who drink and higher mortality and morbidity risks.

    Here are some of the many reasons we should consider stopping drinking altogether. Alcohol is linked to:

    • Cancer: In particular, liver, breast, colon, mouth, throat and esophagus cancer
    • Liver disease: Cirrhosis of the liver as well as liver failure
    • High blood pressure: Heart failure and dementia
    • Injury: Falls and drunk driving
    • Depression and anxiety
    • Alcohol poisoning: Physical harm and even death
    • Harm to social networks

    The Surgeon General’s most recent advisory from earlier this year recommended that all alcoholic drinks should bear the warning that alcohol can cause cancer. There is no amount of alcohol you can drink safely. But, Congress would need to pass legislation for this to happen. Today, alcohol labels warn of general risks to your health.

    The benefits of drinking alcohol? The jury’s still out on whether drinking a little is any more harmful than abstaining completely from drinking. Of note, some studies show that drinking a little–one to three drinks each week–reduced cancer and death rates over not drinking at all. And, a recent study found similar death rates between nondrinkers and light drinkers. Drinking alcohol can put people at ease and make them more likely to be engaged socially.

    Bottom line: It’s no longer clear that alcohol offers any health benefits. Whatever the benefits of alcohol–and they vary based on people’s lifestyle and genes–the harms are of serious concern. So consider skipping the alcohol, try a nonalcoholic drink.

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  • Want to live longer? Genes and lifestyle matter

    Want to live longer? Genes and lifestyle matter

    Dana G. Smith reports for The New York Times on the extent to which you control how long you live. How much does a healthy lifestyle help and how much do your genes determine your fate?

    For sure, we know about smokers and drinkers, people who eat junk food, as well as people who never exercise, who have lived long and relatively healthy lives. But, the data suggest that these people are the exceptions. If you want to live a long healthy life, you’d better change your lifestyle.

    According to the evidence, your behaviors will likely dictate whether you live until you’re 90. Indeed, one recent study found that you can add 24 years to your life if you: 1. eat healthy, 2. exercise, 3. get adequate sleep, 4. don’t smoke, 5. don’t drink excessively, 6. don’t take opioids, 7. manage stress and 8. engage socially. These healthy behaviors should help you to live to around 87.

    There’s little you can do to help ensure you will live to 100. But, 87 is pretty good relative to most Americans. In the US today, the average life expectancy is 78.5.

    At the end of the day, whether you live a long life depends to the greatest extent on your lifestyle, your daily habits. Genes are responsible only for about 25 percent of your longevity. Living to 100 is far more about your genes than your lifestyle.

    There are plenty of people who live very long lives without particularly healthy habits. They smoke and don’t exercise. Because of their genes, they still are not as likely to have chronic conditions, such as heart disease or cancer or dementia.

    For example, you are better off carrying the APOE2 gene if you are going to avoid an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. If you have the APOE4 gene, you are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. For another example, having the FOXO3 gene can keep you from getting a variety of diseases that generally come with old age.

    Unfortunately, fewer than one in 100 people have these genes. Not surprisingly, fewer than one in 100 people live to 100.

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  • New report finds alcohol is likely responsible for rise in cancer rates

    New report finds alcohol is likely responsible for rise in cancer rates

    Roni Caryn Rabin reports for The New York Times on the increase in rates of colorectal and breast cancer and a new report from the American Association for Cancer Research that finds a possible link between these cancers and alcohol consumption. Drinking alcohol increases your likelihood of getting cancer.

    Cancer rates are falling. But, more people are getting certain types of cancer for reasons yet unknown. Of note, 40 percent of cancer cases are linked to behaviors that can be changed.

    The report urges people to drink less alcohol, stop smoking, eat a healthy diet, exercise, avoid ultraviolet radiation and stay away from pollutants. It recommends adding warning labels to alcohol products. Drinking alcohol affects the bacteria in your gut, which in turn can lead to cancer growing and spreading.

    New data is showing that people who drink small amounts or in moderation do not reduce their risk of heart disease relative to people who drink occasionally. In fact moderate and light drinkers are more likely to die from cancer than occasional drinkers.

    Put differently, it’s a myth that drinking red wine will help your heart. Whatever benefits you get from drinking red wine are outweighed by your risk of getting cancer.

    More than one in 20 cancer (5.4 percent) diagnoses today are attributed to drinking alcohol. What types of cancer are you most likely to get from drinking alcohol? Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma as well as some types of head, neck, breast, colorectal, liver and stomach cancers.

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  • Skip the alcohol, try a nonalcoholic drink

    Skip the alcohol, try a nonalcoholic drink

    Sitting down with a cocktail at the end of the day is no longer the norm for many people. Dana G. Smith reports for The New York Times that nonalcoholic drinks are taking off in the “alcohol” market. In the year between 2022 and 2023, sales of nonalcoholic beverages rose 32 percent. Given the health risks of alcohol, try a nonalcoholic drink.

    Americans are drinking far less alcohol than ever before. Sales in the alcohol market are up just one percent. Whole Foods sold more nonalcoholic beer in 2024 than alcoholic beer.

    Alcohol is not good for our health. So, why not switch to nonalcoholic beverages? Without the alcohol, there’s no worry about harm to your liver or toxins that increase your risk of cancer.

    Many nonalcoholic drinks today tend to taste a lot like their alcoholic counterparts but have less than a half of one percent alcohol content. Companies can remove the alcohol through filtration and distillation or an altered fermentation process that prevents the sugars from becoming alcohol.

    Other nonalcoholic drinks might have hibiscus tea as their primary ingredient and taste less like alcohol. I like to make a mocktail at the end of the day with some ginger syrup, fresh juice, seltzer water and mint. Not only is the mocktail healthier than alcohol, it has far fewer calories!

    People who should stay away from any alcohol are better off avoiding the nonalcoholic drinks and sticking to mocktails, where you know what’s going into them. If you buy prepared nonalcoholic drinks, check the ingredients. Some of these drinks have CBD, THC or ashwagandha.

    Bottom line: If you have not yet tried a nonalcoholic beverage, go for it. Drink it instead of one alcoholic drink or all alcoholic drinks each week. Any reduction in your consumption of alcoholic beverages is a benefit to your health.

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  • New guidelines on alcohol consumption is likely to expose its many risks

    New guidelines on alcohol consumption is likely to expose its many risks

    I’ve written about the risks of consuming alcohol several times now. Despite the fact that we have been told for decades that a little bit of alcohol can lower the risk of heart disease, there is mounting evidence that you’re better off staying away from alcohol altogether. Isabelle Cueto reports for StatNews on past government alcohol consumption guidelines tainted by the influence of the alcohol industry and new independent guidelines to be released next year.

    Bottom line, the people preparing the research findings on alcohol consumption in the 1990’s were allowed to design the studies, collect the evidence and disseminate the results, allowing for alcohol-industry bias. Now, the guidelines are being updated. And, notwithstanding claims of fewer heart attacks among French people than Americans because they drank wine every day—broadcast on 60 Minutes in the 1990’s—it appears that the research was flawed; the alcohol industry was involved.

    The earlier research did not take account of the people who did not drink because of an illness and other considerations. There was no reason to connect alcohol consumption with better health.

    Cueto explains the tight link between politics and money, which affected the guidelines on alcohol consumption. Congress had created an independent advisory committee in the 1990’s as a result of questions about the alcohol guidelines in the 1980’s. But, it appears that the committee was far from independent. Members had ties to different food industries.

    As recently as 2020, a scientific panel tried to recommend limiting sugar and alcohol intake and federal officials wouldn’t allow it. The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture share responsibility for overseeing the recommendations on an alternating basis.

    This time, a new set of committees are overseeing the process, doing independent reviews. Their results will be released in 2025. The belief among independent experts is that the committee members looking at the evidence will recognize the risk of certain cancers and other chronic diseases from any amount of alcohol consumption and likely recommend against consuming any alcohol.

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  • Drink lemonade, not alcohol, improve your health

    Drink lemonade, not alcohol, improve your health

    Ian Taylor writes for BBC Science Focus Magazine about the risks of drinking any amount of alcohol. The World Health Organization (“WHO”) now advises in Lancet Public Health that no amount of alcohol is good for your health. Rather, alcohol is carcinogenic. Drink lemonade!

    In short, according to the WHO, “alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive and dependence-producing substance and [was] classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago.” Alcohol causes liver damage, cardiac damage, cancer, and can compromise mental health. Even in small doses, it offers no benefits, as some had once believed.”

    The alcohol industry appreciates that alcohol is a carcinogen and does not say otherwise. The open question is whether there is an amount of alcohol one can consume that is not harmful. The answer from the International Agency for Research on Cancer appears to be no.

    One alcoholic drink a week increases your chances of having cancer. It also is not good for your brain. You lose grey and white matter when you drink alcohol.

    Recent research shows that a small amount of alcohol has no heart benefits either. You are more likely to have hypertension and coronary artery disease if you drink alcohol.

    Reducing your alcohol consumption has significant health benefits. The benefits are greater from drinking two drinks a day rather than four drinks than from not drinking instead of drinking two drinks.

    If you are concerned about drinking too much alcohol, talk to your doctor. Keep in mind that Medicare covers alcohol screening and counseling.

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  • Five ways to ensure the people you love are safe and healthy 

    Five ways to ensure the people you love are safe and healthy 

    At least once a year, every caregiver should engage the older people they love in what can be difficult conversations. No child looks forward to being a parent to her mom or dad; no one wants to have to speak with a spouse about exercising more, rethinking a medication regimen or considering stopping driving.  But, that’s often what needs to happen. Here are five ways you can help ensure the people you love are safe and healthy.

    1. Make sure they get an annual flu shot.  This should be easy since often the local pharmacy will administer the shot.  The shot minimizes the risk that older adults will develop flu-related health problems, including pneumonia and worsening chronic conditions. [Editor’s note: Also make sure they get their Covid-19 vaccine and booster shots.]
    1. Check out what drugs they are taking.  And, make a list of them, along with the names and phone numbers of their doctors, both for yourself and for their wallets.  If they keep the list on them, and you have a backup copy, it will help ensure their doctors are best prepared to treat them.
    1. Ask them about painkiller prescriptions they take as well as over the counter drugs, like Tylenol.  Too much acetaminophen can be dangerous. Prescription painkillers, such as Percocet or Vicodin, can be even more dangerous, particularly if mixed with alcohol, tranquilizers or other drugs.
    1. Try to nudge them to exercise. A brisk walk can reduce the likelihood of stroke and help prolong their lives. If they are not inclined to move, ask them what might get them out of the house.  Sometimes, a companion can make all the difference.  Anything they can do to move their bodies is great, including in hospital. Sometimes, showing them some easy exercises can work.  You can find simple balance exercises that the National Institutes on Health recommends here. For information about free and low-cost exercise programs in your community, visit the eldercare locator.
    1. Talk to them about driving if they are still driving. Many people can drive all their lives.  But, both mental and physical reflexes can weaken as you age.  The National Institute on Aging offers great advice on when and how you can help someone you love decide to stop driving.

    And, if you need help motivating them to change an unhealthy behavior, here are six tips that could help.

    Of course, there’s more you can do, including making their homes easier and safer to live in: for example, make sure floor surfaces are smooth to reduce the likelihood of tripping, install ramps and  raise toilet seats. More on that in a separate post.

    (This post was originally published on April 10, 2015.)

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  • Avoid these five foods to keep your mind sharp

    Avoid these five foods to keep your mind sharp

    It’s that time of year when it seems that yummy sweets and other unhealthy eats are all around us. There’s good reason to avoid them all. Dr. Uma Naidoo, a psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School faculty member, makes the case on CNBC.com that you can keep your mind sharp and reduce your risk of dementia if you avoid eating five foods.

    Dr. Naidoo researches the ways bacteria in our guts can affect our memory. Some foods create bacteria that inflame our brain and hurt our memory.

    1. Foods with added sugars, including processed foods, can create too much sugar in our brains. This excess sugar, in turn, can compromise our memory. So avoid snack foods like Goldfish and Oreos and soft drinks like Coke and Mountain Dew. You should avoid eating more than 25 grams of added sugar a day.
    2. Fried foods, such as french fries, donuts, tempura and samosas. One study that looked at the effects of eating too much fried foods found that people who ate a lot of fried foods had poorer memories. Fried foods lead to inflammation and broken blood vessels that are needed to ensure an adequate supply of blood to the brain. Fried foods also increase your risk of developing depression.
    3. High glycemic-load carbohydrates, such as spaghetti and bread, don’t sit well in your gut. They behave like sugar. If you have the urge, eat high-fiber foods, ones with whole grains; they do not increase your risk of developing depression.
    4. Alcohol intake in moderation actually can be beneficial in reducing the likelihood of dementia, as compared to no alcohol intake whatsoever. But, more than two drinks a day (for men) or one drink a day (for women) put you at greater risk of dementia.
    5. Nitrates in deli meats also could be linked to depression. Eating deli meats made with buckwheat flour is preferable to those made with nitrates if you must eat deli meats.

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  • How to strengthen your immune system

    How to strengthen your immune system

    Last week, I wrote about the risks of taking supplements as a way to strengthen your immune system and protect yourself against COVID-19. There is no silver bullet. That said, there are ways to build up your bodies’ defenses against the novel coronavirus and other viruses and bacteria. As you might expect, the best ways are through exercise, good nutrition, sleep and calm. 

    Our bodies are equipped with cells, cell products, tissues and organs that serve as a defense against infection. These immune systems develop based on both the environments in which we grow up and how we treat our bodies. Diet, exercise, sleep, stress all contribute to the functioning of our immune systems. 

    Reducing your stress level, sleeping well, eating well, having enough vitamin D in your system, keeping your alcohol consumption down, and exercising all help to keep your body armed against respiratory and other illnesses.

    • Stress: Studies show that your immune system works best when you are not feeling stress. One study found that people who said that they had less stress in their lives were not as likely to catch a cold after being exposed to the cold virus with nose drops as people who felt more stress. A second study found that marital conflict weakened people’s immune systems. The study mildly wounded the arms of married couples. Couples who then argued with each other tended to have wounds that took longer to heal than couples who exhibited less anger. Techniques for managing stress and strengthening your immune system, include meditation, talk therapy, and controlled breathing.
    • Sleep: Studies show that people who sleep more than seven hours a night are better at fighting off infection than people who sleep less than six hours. In one study conducted at UC San Francisco, people who slept less were more than four times as likely to get sick after being exposed to a cold virus than people who slept more. In fact, people who slept less than five hours were more likely to get sick than people who slept six hours.
    • Eat a balanced diet. Eating a healthy balanced diet helps keep your body functioning well. As much as possible, get your nutrition from unprocessed foods rich in vitamins, minerals and fibers, not from supplements. Whole fruits are better than fruit juice. In particular, blueberries, apples and grapes have been associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes. And, try to minimize eating foods and drinks with saturated fats, added sugar, high sodium content and that are high in calories. But, still eat modest amounts of foods with unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, nuts, and avocados.
    • Vitamin D: Vitamin D produces proteins that kill viruses and bacterial infections. If you eat fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna or mackerel, drink milk with vitamin D, eat cheese and mushrooms, or spend time in the sun, you should have a good vitamin D level.
    • Alcohol: Studies show that if you drink too much, you can compromise your immune system and are more likely to suffer from pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses. To live longer, a recent study published in  the Lancet finds that you should not drink more than five drinks a week. People who drank more than five alcoholic drinks a week had a higher risk of stroke, coronary disease, heart failure and death than people who drank five or fewer alcoholic drinks.
    • Exercise: To stay healthy, sit less and exercise. Two and a half hours a week of physical activity is important for a longer life and to deter all kinds of chronic conditions.  You should spend at least 20 minutes a day increasing your heart rate. That benefits your heart, your mind, your muscle, your skin and more. Also, avoid sitting too much. Sitting can increase your likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can lead to high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and extra body fat around the waist. And, it can hurt your cholesterol.

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