Cancer Cholesterol / Cholesterol Cancer?!?!

We blame the researchers and the publications but if we spent the money and got our lazy behinds out to every single medical conference in the country we could get the verification for the information reported in the news. But have you read us? We tire easily and we're not the "Big & Rich" (hey they're not any longer) business we hope to be. What we can report is our experiences with Pearlie Mae Frierson Leach, after whom we are so named. All are articles we suggest you peruse beyond the headlines and the news story.

Many of the headlines (ABC News, US News & World Report, AP, WedMD), which are difficult to write, don't quite shed light on the complexity of the results. If the materials aren't publicly published we can't verify. We write (rather) email for more info to the mentioned speakers but they don't usually reply. While the info might be cited it can't always be checked. We just thought you should know! We're on it - as best we can!

The headline: Low Cholesterol May Be Sign of Undiagnosed Cancer from ABC News yesterday said: "Low total cholesterol may be a sign of cancer rather than a cause, as some researchers have suggested, and men who have low cholesterol actually have a lower risk of developing high-risk prostate cancer, two teams reported on Tuesday."

That headline seemed to contradict this headline from US News and World Report: "Low Cholesterol May Help Prevent Cancer - Two studies dispel longstanding fears about possible connection - Low blood cholesterol levels reduce the risk not only of heart disease but also of cancer, two new studies show."

AP reported using the same research report: "Men may protect more than their hearts if they keep cholesterol in line: Their chances of getting aggressive prostate cancer may be lower, new research suggests." WedMD reported: "Radiation treatment cuts the risk that melanoma will come back in people at high risk for recurrence, a new study suggests. Researchers studied more than 200 people with melanoma at high risk of having their cancer return after surgery because the disease had spread to the lymph nodes."

The original abstract from Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (CEBP) concluded: "Results from the two analyses of cholesterol and risk of cancer published in this issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention provide one answer and raise two new questions. Results from the ATBC analysis clearly show that low total cholesterol is unlikely to increase risk of cancer. At the same time, the ATBC results raise a new question about the potential role of high HDL cholesterol and its correlates in reducing risk of cancer."

You had to be there - unfortunately we couldn't and weren't. Hey its not the last time. We're working on other stories and because we weren't there we'll have to wait for responses to our questions from the researchers who tend to be too busy to answer emails. That's just the way it is!

Cholesterol Confusion

Todays News high cholesterol will lead to later dementia the reports indicate. While we don't suffer from the issue of cholesterol any and all dementia reports hit close to home. Aunt Mamie and probably one of our uncles is a victim (we think) of the early signs of dementia so the subject is one near and dear to our hearts. This is not the story we thought we'd be writing today. We hoped we'd be updating you about the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and the other mutant strains that are now entering into epidemic stages throughout the world.

The New York Times, WebMD, Reuters and the BBC all report that high cholesterol in the "younger than us" can lead to vascular disease (Vad) and or Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the "older than us."

We thought we'd read the research and maybe explain or answer questions left unanswered by the report and their reporting. Then something very curious occurred - we saw the following numbers.

Race/ethnic group	No dementia	AD	VaD
(self-reported)	(n = 9,248)	(n = 469)	(n = 127)
Asian	598 (6.5)	17 (3.6)	5 (3.9)
Black	1,387 (15)	109 (23.2)	35 (27.6)
White	6,863 (74,2)	325 (69.3)	85 (66.9)
Other	400 (4.3)	18 (3.8)	2 (1.6)

The new study found this in the discussion of their summary. The entire summary is available online from the New York Times article: "Testing of interaction terms by race/ethnic group and sex showed that effects were not statistically different for men and women or by race/ethnic group." According to the numbers above Blacks are almost double at risk than other ethnic groups. Since Pearlie Leach, a black woman, and her twin sister Mamie who recently succumbed to the effect of dementia we are sensitive to numbers like these.

Are the numbers startling or new - NO! That the numbers are considered NOT statistically different by race/ethnic group is the secondary story and the need for this site. What the report appears to indicate is that a history of bad behavior does significant and long term damage to your health and your mental future. A late term conversion will appear to do little to prevent a lifetime of physical abuse.