The New York Times, Jane E. Brody, July 26, 2010
Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.
If the findings of existing clinical trials hold up in future research, the potential consequences of this deficiency are likely to go far beyond inadequate bone …

Richard Knox, NPR, April 6, 2010
In summary, the findings from the EPIC cohort add further evidence that a broad effort to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables will not have a major effect on cancer incidence. Such efforts are still worthwhile because they will reduce risks of cardiovascular disease, and a small benefit for cancer remains possible. Walter Willett, Editorial

Remember the government’s advice to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day to lower your risk of cancer? Well, times change. A huge nine-year study of diet and cancer, …

Los Angeles Times, Tami Dennis, February 8, 2010
Sugar-sweetened sodas — with their high-glycemic load eliciting natural suspicion — have been linked with varying degrees of success to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. So scientists have been trying to clarify the precise nature and size of that risk.
Researchers at the University of Minnesotas School of Public Health noted that most of the studies along these lines have been in people of European descent. So they decided to cull through data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, assessing whether sugar-sweetened soft drinks and juices had …

Editorial J. Michael Gaziano, MD, MPH JAMA. 2010;303(3):(doi:10.1001/jama.2009.2025).
In 1900, Henry Ford unveiled the first car made in Detroit, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union was founded in New York, and San Francisco was placed under a federal quarantine to prevent the spread of bubonic plague. Infectious disease was a major concern, and the most common causes of death in the United States and in many parts of the world at the time were pneumonia and tuberculosis. Today, most individuals die of cardiovascular disease or cancer. This dramatic shift in the illnesses …

Cancer patients in poorer nations have much lower survival rates after diagnosis compared with those in richer nations, says a global study Lancet Oncology.  It attributes the stark gap to weak, or non-existent in some instances, treatment and diagnostic services, and emphasises the need for urgent investments in oncology health services, especially in sub-Saharan African countries.
The study examined the five year age standardised relative survival experience of 341 658 cancer patients diagnosed with one of 10 cancers during 1990-2001 in 25 regions in 12 low and middle income nations from …