The reason why many women with breast cancer see the disease return after apparently successful treatment has been discovered in a breakthrough that could lead to improved treatments.

Breast cancer gene fingerprint find Gene find offers hope to breast cancer victims Scraps stop breast cancer in its tracks

The new insight, which challenges current understanding of cancer, could pave the way to more effective strategies to fight the disease, which affects around 45,000 women annually in Britain alone.

Breast cancer survivors have a substantial risk of recurrence: of the women who were cancer-free at five years, one fifth or so can develop the disease during the following decade.

The new results published in Science by Dr Katrina Podsypanina and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, suggest that disease spread might also arise from the relatively normal cells that have spread and remain dormant at the new organ site until cancer genes are switched on.

In this way, the spread of cancer to new sites in the body - the process that is ultimately responsible for most cancer deaths - may happen earlier because it seems to be linked to normal cells migrating around the body and then mutating into a cancerous form.

This discovery suggests an explanation for why some breast cancers, for example, appear to spread throughout the body long after the initial tumour has been treated.

The team says that the next generation of treatments should target more normal breast cells as well as those that are cancerous to cut the risk of relapse.

"If follow-up research suggested that dissemination of normal breast cells can account for metastatic relapse in breast cancer patients (a hypothetical situation, at present), we would argue that treatment strategies should aim to compromise viability and/or proliferation of normal breast cells, and not just breast tumour cells."

One approach, adds Dr Podsypanina, could be to use drugs with a similar hormone action to tamoxifen, though she stressed more work needs to be done first.

Because the spread of cancer cells involves a series of steps to change the makeup of normal cells - the cells must be equipped to survive the trip in the bloodstream and initiate malignant growth in their new environment - researchers have traditionally considered it to be a late event in cancer development that occurs after tumour cells in the primary site, where cancer first develops, have racked up a series of genetic alterations that switch on cancer genes.

To investigate, team injected mice with normal mammary cells from donor mice that had been experimentally manipulated in a way that allowed the researchers to turn on in breast cells certain cancer genes, known as "oncogenes," at various times after injection.

The team, including the Nobel prizewinner Prof Harold Varmus found that the normal mammary cells were capable of traveling in the bloodstream to the lungs and surviving there for up to 16 weeks without using any oncogenes.

The donor cells did not begin growing aggressively in the lungs until the oncogenes had been turned on, by giving the recipient mice a specially treated feed.

Liz Baker, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Learning more about the spread of cancer - or metastasis - is essential because it is harder to treat the disease once it has spread. These are important but early results in mice - it will be interesting to see whether this can one day help the outcome of people affected by cancer."

Chips, crackers, and cookiesAll are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of trans-fats.


French friesLike doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils and then fried at high temperatures. They also contain cancer- causing acryl amides which occur during the frying process. They should be called cancer fries, not French fries, said Adams .






DoughnutsDoughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then fried at high temperatures. Doughnuts, says Adams , may be the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.

Shaping Your Arms

Many women struggle with flabby arms, commonly called batwings. This is simply an accumulation of body fat and lack of muscle development. You can have nice shapely arms by incorporating 3 essentials:

1. Quality Nutrition
2. Resistance Training
3. Cardiovascular Work

Quality Nutrition for Shaping Your Arms

In order to lose the excess body fat you have to eat right. This involves cutting out the obvious junk food and including more whole and natural foods. Eating a small balanced meal every three hours works well at stabilizing your blood sugar and curtailing cravings. I know the carb-craze is still in high gear, but there is a lack of quality carbohydrate information available. You can eat carbohydrates and lose weight. I have a ton of e-clients that are living proof. A balanced meal contains a protein, carbohydrate, and fat.

Resistance Training for Shaping Your Arms

Resistance training will build the muscles, giving curves and shape to the arms. It will not create huge bulky arms, which is commonly feared among women. The more muscle you add to your arms, the leaner they will appear, as muscle takes up less space than fat and it's denser

To work the back of your arms (triceps), try the following:

Overhead Extensions – Stand up or sit in a chair and hold a barbell or dumbbell over your head. In a slow and controlled manner, lower it behind your head, keeping your elbows close to your head. Once you have lowered the bar as far as you can, bring it back to the starting position, contract the triceps, and repeat the movement.

Lying Triceps Extensions – Lie on your back on a bench and hold a barbell extended out in front of you. Slowly and in a controlled manner, lower the bar right past your forehead, keeping your elbows close to your head. Once you have lowered it as far as you can, bring it back to the starting position, contract the triceps, and repeat the movement.

Bench Dips – Place your palms on the bench or chair behind you. Extend your feet out in front of you, toes up and bend your knees. Slowly and in a controlled manner, keeping your elbows stationary and close to your body, lower your body down as far as possible. Be sure to keep your body close to the chair or bench. Using the triceps, rise back and contract your triceps, and repeat the movement.

To work your front of your arms (biceps), try the following:

Barbell Curls – Hold a barbell in front of you with your palms facing outward. In a slow and controlled fashion, curl the bar up toward your chest area, squeeze your biceps and release. Repeat the movement.

Alternate Dumbbell Curls – Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your body. In a controlled manner, curl each one up individually and rotate the wrist so your palm is facing your shoulder when the curl is in the contracted position. Slowly release and repeat.

You Can Only Eat High Protein Diet Food

It's tuna and water time

I throw fastballs, curves and a mean change of pace, but you haven't seen my looptyloop. Get ready to duck.

The following technique is hardcore and doesn't follow the rules. Athletes-bodybuilders, in particular-practice this protein-exclusive principle to muscularize before competition. You are going to eat tuna and drink water for three straight days. Hissss… My, how quickly we lose our sense of humor.

You're cleaning house, fortifying the good habits and dismantling the bad. It's time to make a strong and definite statement before the audience that matters most. You. Take this short and tough departure for all it's worth: the test of will, a mind and body cleansing, the experience of a sudden and abrupt menu change that often initiates positive hormonal adjustment. More and more researchers are agreeing that sugar is the problem in the modern diet. Breaking the carb intake totally is good for you as you prepare for the unfolding long-term diet you're planning.

Goes like this: Choose your starting day. Psyche up. You'll be consuming water by the jugs-two to four liters a day-and one to one-and-a-half grams of protein per pound of body weight divided into six equal servings throughout the day. Back this with your vitamins and minerals two times a day, eight capsules of branch chain amino acids (key muscle-building protein) before and after your workouts, a gulp of EFA oil and a nightly portion of Metamucil for fiber

Exercise makes you happy, healthy, sexy, and, unfortunately—really, really hungry. Back when I had the time to log many workouts every week, I fought constantly not to eat back all the calories I burned. Sometimes I was successful, other times—like the day I came back from a lunchtime power yoga class to find a monster brownie on my desk—not so much. You want to fuel your body when you work out of course, but not with mammoth brownies or seconds of pasta, or giant protein shakes you could swim in. A better idea: Understand the source of your raging appetite. Exercise is believed to trigger the release of a hunger-boosting hormone called ghrelin (it sounds like gremlin for a reason). It’s meant to protect the body from losing too much weight too quickly, but considering most gyms practically have a food court these days, that’s not a danger most of us face. Here’s how I keep the ghrelins at bay:

Snack First, Sweat Later
Twenty minutes later, to be exact. Exercising on an empty stomach lowers blood sugar, which can increase your appetite so you inhale your food later. You can always go for that pre-workout stalwart, a banana, but I’m not a huge fan, so I reach for about 4 ounces of yogurt or another carb-rich snack instead.

Take Preemptive Notes
Writing down everything you consume is a proven way to lose weight, but try this trick: Do it before you eat. Seeing what you’re about to put in your mouth—on paper—gives you instant perspective. Case in point: “Turkey sandwich plus two bags of chips plus a soda plus five of those cookies my co-worker brought it.” Would you eat all that? I think not.

Drink Lots of Water—On the Rocks
Studies show people who drink water regularly eat 200 fewer calories a day. (Here are some other sneaky tips to get rid of extra calories.) If you make it ice-cold, you may even burn extra calories without trying—researchers in Germany found that drinking six glasses of ice water a day can raise you metabolism by 50 calories. I’ll drink (a whole lotta frigid H20) to that!

What’s your favorite workout snack? How do you keep postworkout hunger under control? Please tell me your tricks!

Avoiding after exercise headache

You have a great work-out, then BOOM! - the dreaded after exercise headache hits. Sometimes it's right away, sometimes a couple of hours after you're done exercising.
What's going on?

What's causing it?

There are a number of things that can cause after exercise headache. If you already suffer from migraine, chances are that your exercise is triggering the migraine chain-reaction. It may be that the symptoms are a little different than what you're used to - don't let that throw you off. Chances are, it's still migraine.

If that's the case, you need to deal with the "big picture" - your overall migraine issue. Talk to your doctor about the various preventative medications that may be right for you. This is for you especially if you're getting migraine symptoms a few times a month.

Your doctor also may be able to suggest a medication that you can take just before you exercise or just after, that will stop the headache before it becomes a major problem.

Other possibilities

There may be other reasons why you're getting headache. Most causes are not serious, though some can be. You may simply have an exertional headache, which can happen to anyone. Sometimes spinal problems can cause a headache.

However, if you get a new headache after you exercise, see your doctor. It could be something that needs immediate attention. These might include a brain haemorrhage (when blood vessels in the brain actually break) or other problems with blood vessels themselves.

Read the article entitled End exercise induced headache for more on after exercise headache. Included there are 10 great tips for avoiding headaches during and after exercise!

You may also enjoy this article by Dr Trisha Macnair MA, MB ChB, Dip Anaesthetics about after exercise headache and treatment. Macnair has a good summary of some of the most usual causes, and the normal treatments for each. She has also listed a few of the more common warning signs that something more serious is going on.

Still, remember to see your doctor if you have a new headache of any kind. There are more tips on our exercise induced headache page.
Some common treatments
The International Headache Society has written about two overlapping types of headache, known as primary cough headache and primary exertion headache. These are often treated with indomethecin (Indocin), an anti-inflammatory medication. Ergotamine Tartrate has been reported as helpful by some patients.

Studies on these types of headaches are still limited, however, so its best to talk to your doctor. Also be sure to read these tips on avoiding exercise induced headache.