2021 April

Your cancer answers: can nutrition, exercise improve quality of life for head, neck cancer patients?

Source: syvnews.com Author: John Malinowski, Marian Cancer Care Question: How can nutrition and exercise improve quality of life for head and neck cancer patients? Head and neck cancers affect more than 52,000 Americans each year and account for about 5% of new cancer cases worldwide. Treatment of head and neck cancer with concurrent chemo radiotherapy with curative intent may cause side effects leading to deterioration of long-term quality of life and disability that persists years after treatment. Many head and neck cancer patients experience treatment related side effects such as; difficulty swallowing, difficulty with speech, loss of taste or smell and unintended weight loss which often can be attributed to decreased muscle mass. There are a few things that you can do to try helping to maintain your body weight during treatment. Nutrition can be one tool to help ensure you are taking in enough calories and the right nutrients to help your body fight the cancer. Often when undergoing cancer treatments our body has an increased demand of caloric intake. This can be a challenge to increase your calories while undergoing treatment so try eating several smaller meals throughout the day, maybe even every 2-3 hours. With each meal try to incorporate some carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Make sure you are intentional about chewing your food. You can try to chew each bite 50 times or trying to incorporate softer texture foods can make it easier to swallow. Steaming or boiling vegetables rather than eating raw may help. Softer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-04-08T09:46:35-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine leads to more than 80% drop in infections: What parents need to know

Source: Good Morning, America Date: April 2nd, 2021 Author: Kathleen Kindalen A new study has shown the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, and found a dramatic decline in human papillomavirus infections in both vaccinated and unvaccinated teen girls and young women in the United States. "This study shows that the vaccine works very well against a common virus, HPV," Dr. Hannah Rosenblum, lead author of the study and medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told "Good Morning America." "HPV can cause serious health problems later in life, including some cancers in both women and men," she said. "HPV vaccination is cancer prevention -- by vaccinating children at age 11 or 12, we can protect them from developing cancers later in life." HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and can cause health problems like genital warts in addition to cancer, which are most commonly cervical cancer in women and throat cancer in men, according to the CDC. The HPV vaccine was first authorized in the U.S. for females in 2006, and for males in 2011. There has since been a more than 80% decline in HPV infections nationally, according to the CDC study. The newly-released data from the CDC shows an 88% decrease in HPV infections among 14 to 19-year-old females and an 81% decrease among 20 to 24-year-old females. There has also been a drop in unvaccinated females, according to Rosenblum, who warned that does not mean people [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-04-05T10:31:43-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

City offers Oral Cancer Screenings; Health Officials aim to reduce cancer rates, save lives

Source: El Paso Herald Post Date: April 1st, 2021 Author: Staff Reporter Thursday morning, city officials announced that they will be offering referral services and health screenings to decrease the rate of oral cancer diagnoses and save lives, in recognition of April’s National Oral Cancer Awareness Month. “Improving oral and oropharyngeal cancer awareness in our community is imperative,” said Angela Mora, Department of Public Health Director. “Oral cancer has an incidence rate of about 7.2 per 100,000 residents in El Paso County and affects males twice as much as females in the U.S., but we as a community can work to reduce the incidence rate by participating in Oral Cancer Awareness month.” Mora said residents can take part in Oral Cancer Awareness month by: Reducing the use of tobacco products Tobacco use and vaping significantly increases the risk of infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes oral or oropharyngeal cancer. Getting Screened Oral and oropharyngeal cancers occur most often in the tongue, soft and hard palate, tonsils, gums and back of the throat which is why regular oral and dental examinations by a health professional is important. Getting the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine According to the CDC, HPV is known to cause approximately 70 percent of oral and oropharyngeal cancer cases, and the HPV vaccine was developed to prevent infection by the high-risk types of HPV that cause cancers such as oral and oropharyngeal cancer. For more information on the services and health screenings provided by the Department [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-04-02T09:40:38-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|