Good news for cancer survival

Four out of five people diagnosed with cancer of the breast, prostate or testes will survive five years, say figures released today by the UK Office of National Statistics. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of people who survive a cancer diagnosis has continued to increase.

This is thanks to increasing screening and treatment options for patients, the latter of which is made possible through scientific research done on live human tissue.  But in 2006, 56 of the world’s leading breast cancer specialists got together to analyse the gaps in research. The greatest obstacle they agreed, was access to live tissue samples for use in their research.  Five years later, the world’s first breast cancer tissue bank was opened, funded by the UK charity Breast Cancer Campaign.  It will make further research possible into the 20 per cent of women who still don’t survive their cancers.   Based in four centres in the UK – Leeds, Birmingham, London and Glasgow – it will be banking live breast and tumour tissue from women post-mastectomy on a larger scale than ever before.

Under normal circumstances, some tissue is taken from each patient post-surgery and used for diagnosis post-surgery.  Now, this remaining breast cancer tissue will be banked giving scientists  access to more live tissue that’s crucial to turning their theories into viable patient treatments.

Today’s ONS figues unfortunately  also show survival from brain, lung, oesophagus, pancreas and stomach cancers is still only 20 per cent, meaning only  one in five people currently survives five years after diagnosis.  However, during the filming for the recent film I made highlighting the work of the breast cancer tissue bank, leading oncologist Professor Alastair Williams said:

‘The breast cancer tissue bank presents the chance for scientists to take their theories to the next stage of research, increasing their potential  for turning into powerful treatments.  The discoveries made into how breast cancers behave and metastasise [spread] can also influence the way other cancers are treated meaning the work of the new tissue bank may positively impact survival not only for breast cancer patients but for people living with other cancers too.’

Watch this film to find out more. We shot it at Bart’s Hospital in London with the help of the lovely team of clinicians and scientists and all round good people at Breast Cancer Campaign.  It was produced by Print and Visual Media

If you are thinking about running the marathon you could do worse than choose BCC as your charity. I would so love to run it but so far have not got beyond thinking about it in terms of training…If you need inspiration, here is another film I have just completed about Charlotte Pittuck, who has taken the plunge to run the marathon and is actually training.   It too was produced by Print and Visual Media

Charlotte last year found out she has the BRAC2 gene for breast cancer which gives her an 80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer.  But thanks to research like that being done by the tissue bank, Charlotte has found out early about her risk and will at 30, have an operation to remove and reconstruct both her breasts taking her risk down to just six per cent – the same as that of most of us living without the gene.  Charlotte has three small and oh-so-cute children who you will see on this film so it’s incredibly heartening news.

You can read Charlotte’s blog here or follow her on Twitter @PitzPoodle

Aussies ban branding on cigarettes

Today Reuters reports Australia has become the first country in the world to ban branding on cigarette packets.  From December next year, cigarettes in Oz will come only in olive packaging without any mention of the brand, only graphic images of the harm cigarettes can cause.

But it’s not that long ago that it seemed the whole world smoked, even in Australia.  I remember as a kid how glamourous the older girls seemed laying on the beach, all toned Reef-Oiled limbs and Ray-Bans, a ‘Winnie Blue’  - Aussies even shorten the names of their cigarettes – clutched between their fingers.  As they exhaled two long lines of smoke from their nostrils, they looked to me like exquisite bronzed dragons.   If it looked to me as a child in the 70s as though just about every grown woman I knew was smoking, it’s because they were. Cancer Research UK reports smoking in men peaked in the 1940s but it was in the 1970s that female smoking reached an all-time high when a staggering 44 per cent of women smoked.    My mother was never a true smoker but even she had a brief sojourn with the wistfully named ‘St Moritz’ cigarettes – despite being an asthmatic. Thanks to covert but aggressive marketing by Phillip Morris et al those long, white stems flanked by little silver bands and the remnants of her red Chanel lipstick became a symbol of her glamour.

The tobacco industry directly marketed cigarettes to women like my mother.  In a campaign no doubt orchestrated by a real life Don Draper or two, Phillip Morris’ 1968 advertisement for the Virginia Slims cigarettes campaign, ‘You’ve come a long way baby’ implied all emancipated women smoked.

It kind of worked.  In high-income countries, including Australia, Canada, the United States of America and most countries of western Europe, a WHO report found that women now smoke nearly the same rate as men and 200 million of the world’s billion smokers are women.

But when it comes to public health campaigns, Australia beat those Don Drapers at their own game.  I still remember the  impact the straight to the point and always cringingly irreverent public health ads had on our behavior as kids.  Take a look at some from my teen years.  What elegant word economy eh, mate?

Maybe this Aussie move will make a difference and plain packaging and scary graphic images on packs will filter into other countries.  We’ll see.  Not surprisingly, three tobacco giants are threatening to sue the Aussie government for billions in lost revenue.  Wonder whose side Don Draper will be on.

Calming the over-caffeinated

I never really got the whole aromatherapy thing until I tried pure, organic oil in a burner.  Compared to the stuff I used to get at the pound shop it was like the difference between a kebab and a Michelin-starred meal. Okay I exaggerate.  But not so much.  The cheap oils would get up my – often already stuffed – morning nose and make my eyes water because they were based on chemically-orientated synthetic glycerins that can become toxic when burned and inhaled.  Now I only use Tisserand Lavender or Aromatherapy Associates’s Support Breathe Essential Oil with lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree that instantly clears morning head.

It makes a far more pleasant morning experience doing my yoga at Namaste Corner – ie the dining room – just by my little Ganesha here.

At around 20 quid a bottle for essential oils, AA is not cheap.  But the quality is hard to surpass.  It was founded in 1985 by aromatherapists Geraldine Howard and Sue Beechey who trained under Micheline Arcier, a student of Margeurite Maury, the Austrian biochemist that is credited as having founded the aromatherapy genre.  Read Geraldine Howard’s blog here.

Recently, I had the divine pleasure of being one of the first to try out AA’s new treatment rooms.  Strategically situated in posh Knightsbridge, a stone’s throw from Harrod’s, they have all the hallmarks of a secret city sanctuary.  Shiny surfaces.  Smiling staff.  Gorgeously scented atomsphere.   Of course.

I walked in over-caffeinated and super-late (following the lunchtime launch of a new cold sore treatment – oh the glamour – and a giggly catchup with my health writer friends, including the slightly too talented Helen Foster who often gets work that should have been MINE I tell you) clutching all my Steve Jobs monstrosities (iPad, iPhone, baby Mac) in a heaving handbag like my life depended on it.  But by the time therapist Sophie took me through, all that conspiratorially-scented air had the desired effect and my eyelids were half-closing.

By the time Sophie got me to the relaxation area all the scented fumes had rendered the eyelids and limbs heavy. I forgot about checking my iPhone for 67 minutes that day. A record.

The session began with Sophie sitting opposite me and passing over three little swatches on which were three different oil blends.  The first was Light Relax oil blend containing lavender, ylang ylang and coconut oil.  Didn’t do it for me at all.  The second contained geranium, sandalwood, ylang ylang and patchouli and with a name like Revive, in theory I sould have loved it. But I was so-so.  Take or leave.  The third instantly got me.  Called Support Equilibrium, this exotic mix of geranium, rose, frankincense, bergamot, pink grapefruit and coconut oil represented not only a buffet of my favourite oriental floral perfume fragrances (Marc, by Marc Jacobs – YUM!) it was also said to help balance my mind and hormones.  Two days later I got my period and Sophie’s next statement was vindicated:

‘When smelling essential oils there is a chemical reaction in the brain which draws you toward one essential oil blend, depending on what you need at that time,’ said Sophie.  ‘The body is intuitive and will be drawn to the oil that will do it the most good at any given time.’

I had intuitively chosen the fragrance my body needed most at that time – that for hormone balance.

I had the City Stress Buster, which was an hour long renewing aromatherapy massage.  ‘I like it firm,’ I ordered Sophie, who replied with a mini-education about the difference between aromatherapy massage and the regular Swedish muscle manipulation garden variety.  It focuses more on the gentle stimulation of pressure points that govern lymph drainage and help balance the nervous system, she said, instead of deep manipulation of muscles.

There are two parts to the autonomic nervous system – the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic is stimulated when you are in flight or fight response – which most people tend to be these days – and the body works off adrenaline and the energy is used in the muscles, lungs and heart. All the things needed to take flight.  The parasympathetic is stimulated when the body is at rest or sleeping to repair, aid digestion, skin cell renewal and equips the body with the tools to last longer, which sympathetic does not. In a healthy body there’s a healthy balance between the two and a real aromatherapy treatment is one of the best ways of helping to balance this system.

‘During the massage we aim to balance out the nervous system by stimulating the  parasympathetic nervous system using pressure points to get the organs working,’ said Sophie.  ‘For Anna, I started the treatment by rocking her spine which confuses the brain and makes it switch off, which I knew she needed. It makes the body think it is losing control so it lets go.’

Aromatherapy Associates Treatment Rooms

I have never fallen asleep during a treatment before, but by the time Sophie told me to turn over, I was well into la-la land.  If you have 60 minutes and a few bob to spare buy yourself some serenity with one of these.

The City Stress Buster costs £90 at Aromatherapy Associates Boutique and Treatment Rooms, 5 Montpelier Street, London SW7 1EX

PS:  For blogging protocol I need to declare I did not pay for this treatment. However, I mean every word of this review.  Blogger’s honour.

Having IVF? Emotional support available at last

The thing about medicine is that for every answer it provides about disease and biology, it often leaves many more emotional questions blaringly unanswered. Take paternity testing.  It’s fine to be able to have it done.  Clever scientists. But what about all the brand new avenues of regret and mistrust that it opens up?  I bet Professor Smarty Pants isn’t around to pick up the pieces when Jimmy Junior finds out at 30 that Jimmy Senior isn’t his dad.

That’s not to say I would give back scientific discovery. Not a chance.  I only hope more people took into account the emotional impact of all this cutting edge medicine and make more provision for it to be addressed.

Reproductive Medicine is a perfect case in point.  Scientifically it’s come a long way since Louise Brown was conceived in a test tube in 1988 making British scientists famous worldwide.  I still remember those test tube baby scenes on the Australian news.  It all seemed so high tech at the time.

Medical technology is all very well but its emotional effects are rarely accounted for

Today, as Louise Brown hits middle age we can not only make test tube babies, we can freeze or swap eggs, make slow sperm strong, adopt embryos and even transplant wombs.  But with all this talk of  egg reserve and sperm motility and 1001 medical acronyms there is still such limited emotional support for treatments that have a high emotional cost.

Now, through her own experience and that of over 20 women and men going through reproductive therapies of different kinds, author Brigid Moss has finally shone light on the emotional journey of IVF in her new book IVF: A Emotional Companion (Collins £12.99).  From the effects of infertility and its treatment on a marriage to the sheer desperation of longing for a child and feeling powerless against your own biology or circumstances, the stories will resonate with anyone whose attempts at having that longed-for baby have not been as straightforward as perhaps they have hoped.

Brigid Moss, Health Director on Red Magazine and author IVF: An Emotional Companion

‘It was my own experience with infertility and IVF and the fact that there’s quite a lot of factual information out there but little about what it feels like to go through it that made me write the book,’ says Moss, who is also the Health Director of Red Magazine, that conducts a nationwide survey each year looking at British couples and their experience of infertility.

‘Infertility is such a hard subject to talk about and also even harder to talk to close friends and family about because they might not understand the technicalities. The book is supposed to be like a friend who knows about IVF or has been through it who can tell you about her experiences and what she learned.  There’s so much how-to out there, but other than lots of little case studies, there isn’t anything about people’s experiences in their own words in long form. My intention with was for people to read the book and understand that they were not alone.’

You can read Moss’s own story in an interview she did with Gurgle.com a couple  of weeks ago.   Buy Brigid’s book on Amazon.  Follow her on Twitter @BrigidRedMag

Nuts – not as fattening as you think

Ooh I love it when a plan comes together. Today, I was interviewing the fabulous dietician Sarah Schenker who is the spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association and has so many letters after her name that those of us with mere ‘BA’ really should just Bugger Awf.  It’s for a piece on the latest thinking in weight loss and I asked her about the quandary of knowing nuts are a great snack but – at least in my case – for old fashioned, diehard body Nazis they are also known to be uber-fattening, so many of us avoid them.  But she pulled me up.

‘Actually,’ she said.  ‘Research is showing that nuts may not be as calorific as you might think and that the body may not absorb all the calories they contain anyway.’  For someone who sees peanut butter as the equivalent of the Eucharist for non-believers, this was good news.

Off I went to Google Scholar to see if she had dreamt it.  Turns out she hasn’t.

In July this year, research in the British Journal of Nutrition found that fat in pistachios may not be completely absorbed by the body and at 160 calories a 30 gram serve, they may contain fewers calories than previously thought.

Plus, researchers at UCLA did a 12 week randomized control study on 52 overweight and obese subjects and gave one groups a daily pistachio snack (75 of the little blighters equal to 240 calories) and the other group a pretzel snack (about 220 calories worth). Turns out the pistachio group reached their BMI goals quicker than the pretzels.    I like.

This abstract review of the literature on this subject in The Journal of Nutrition J. Nutr.-2008-Mattes-1741S-5S summarises it well.  ‘Clinical trials reveal ittle of no weight change with the inclusion of various types of nuts in the diet over 1-6 months,’ say the authors. They say it’s about the satiety that nuts provide being superior to other snacks and the limited energy absorption from them which they seem to take as a given (where have I been?). Double like.

According to Schenker, all nuts good, but almonds for extra vit E, Brazils for antioxidant selenium and walnuts for omega 3…

Happily the study above referred to peanuts which will hearten the peanut butter monsters out there  (if that’s you, take note – one hasn’t lived unless one has tried Whole Earth’s No Added Sugar PB).  Enjoy.

The ugly side of beauty

Recently I blogged about the dangers of fish pedicures and last week, the Health Protection Agency ruled that the possibility – though small – of contracting infections such as hep C and HIV from fish pedicures couldn’t be ruled out.  But these aren’t the only dangers lurking in your beauty salon.  

I used to be a frequenter of high street beauty salons that were nothing more than a formica table, bowl of acetone and stern therapist.  But a recent story I did for Woman & Home magazine has forced me to rethink my criteria for choosing a salon (pretty much: cheaper the better).  What few people know is that in the UK at least, no central regulatory body polices the hair and beauty industry, only local authorities as well as the Health & Safety Executive have responsibility for enforcing trading standards.  This lack of regulation in the industry leaves people with little recourse when things go wrong – and they do.

Take hair bleaching.  In the last 12 months 350 people have reported injuries at the hairdressers and one study found that 82 per cent of salons didn’t offer patch testing to check for allergies before colour and hair stripping procedures that come with allergic reaction risks, eye irritation, burns, blisters.    Hydrogen peroxide and ammonia, used to lighten hair can cause skin and eye irritations and lead to inflammation and blistering.  Most hairdressers wouldn’t use ammonia or peroxide above nine per cent on the scalp because scarring of the scalp and permanent hair loss can occur.  Unfortunately some do.  If your hairdresser is using 12 per cent peroxide on your hair, ensure it isn’t going on your scalp and a lower solution and without ammonia is used on your roots.  Tell your hairdresser everything that has been on your hair including semi-permanent dyes and if you’re having bleaching or stripping insist on a patch test.  Check that they are members of the National Hairdressers’ Federation or The Hairdressing Council to ensure they have adequate training, product knowledge and insurance.

Acrylic nails I know – all a bit TOWIE – but Gawd, I loved their Footballer’s Wife look  and sheer convenience.  But I had mine removed after finding out that one chemical called methyl methacrylate or MMA is banned in the US and Australia but routinely used here.  MMA has a strong odour and anyone using it usually wears a mask, Thea Green, founder of Nails Inc told me.  MMA is abrasive and so strong that if you catch it, the entire nail can lift off.  Gross, I know.  MMA could also penetrate to skin causing irritation, she believes.  It’s hard to tell what nail technicians use as most acrylic powders are decanted but another tell-tale sign, says Green, is that the technician cannot use a nail file on MMA acrylic and has to use an electric drill which can also damage nails. But I still haven’t braved au natural and am loving new three week manicure from Nails Inc (not on the payroll, promise). It’s MMA free and requires no drilling of the nail bed.  I love the fact that it’s instantly dry and lasts about four weeks colour perfect on my nails.  It’s bloody pricey at 50 quid but it really does last so if you were paying £15 for weekly manicures it’s almost justifiable, innit?  See a pic at this twitter link

http://twitter.com/#!/AnnaMagee/status/117266055205879808/photo/1/large

I will stop soon but I know my sister Tanya (Hi Sis!) reads this blog and like me is a total beauty junkie so this is stuff I want her – and any others amongst you dear readers – to know like, now because I have a feeling it’s rarely reported perhaps because of the power of beauty advertisers on websites and in magazines or simply because no one thinks pretty little pampering treatments could come with risks.

I used to think eyelash tinting was fairly innocuous until my friend Tory mentioned that her hairdresser told her it wasn’t the best thing for lashes so I decided to look into it.  Turns out, eyelash tinting done without a patch test can sometimes lead to swelling and other allergic reactions. Plus, I found that some experts believe some newer lash extension treatments can weaken natural lashes.

BABTAC, which is is the certifying and educational body for UK therapists, sees claims for eyelash tinting that has caused dramatic swelling of the eyes when therapists haven’t done patch tests, one of their directors recently told me.  Plus, when it comes to extensions, as surgical-grade glue is used on the natural lashes, the danger is that an inexperienced practitioner can theoretically glue your eyelids together.  Yikes.  According to Jinny Coffey, founder of Jinny Lash, many under-qualified therapists now use glue that is too strong which can damage or weaken the natural eyelashes and irritate the eye. So  - insist on a patch test to ensure you are not allergic to tints or glues.  Ask to see training certificates and diplomas specifically for lash extension application, says Coffey.  Plus – ‘Before you agree to an extension treatment, look at the weight and material of the extensions,’ says Coffey.  Heavy lash extensions can pull at the natural hair and damage the follicle.  ‘We use a variety of thicknesses starting from .15 mm which gives you an idea of the fineness to look for.  Lash extensions should look like natural lash hair, not heavier or thicker.’ Beware of anyone promising to extend the life of extesnions more than four weeks as this can only be done by using dangerously strong glue.  Make sure your therapist is using an established brand  (these include Jinny Lash, 3D lashes, Lash Perfect or AH Francis).

Other danger zones include:

Peels – High concentration peels can cause skin burning, hyperpigmentation and the activation of dormant herpes virus. This happened to me when a therapist in Covent Garden no less left a strong solution on my face too long and I could feel the burning around the delicate area at the top of my cheekbones after which parts of my face literally fell off on flakes for the next two weeks.  Three months later despite using Guzillion-plus sunscreen I developed upsettingly hyperpigmented sun spots in this area that required a year’s worth of antibiotic treatment with a derm to fix. Don’t do it.

Brazilian blow-dries -  often contain formaldehyde (used in embalming and a confirmed carcinogen) up to 75 times legal levels. Although many with formaldehyde have been removed from the market, some experts are concerned they are still being used illegally as it’s not regulated and that some hairdressers are still bringing in the hard stuff from Brazil in their suitcases. Not so easy to police you see.

Fish pedicures –  I have been banging on a bit about this but think about it, they are banned in 14 US States and the HPA said they have received a handful of people reporting infection after one because of the that possibility fish can potentially carry infection and bacteria from one person to another on their mouths.  But a handful is a handful and I wouldn’t want to be the one nursing a stubborn fungus in exchange for smooth feet.  But regular pedicures in unhygienic salons carry risk too.  Get this – in 2006 in the US and the Netherlands there were outbreaks – and in the US two deaths – of MRSA (that’s the antibiotic-resistant superbug that has broken out in hospitals in the past and been responsible for a number of deaths, usually in old people with already compromised immune systems) in nail salons contracted from unsanitized foot baths and nail instruments. This is because those UV light sterilizers don’t kill 100 per cent of infective organisms such as Hep B and C, MRSA so you need a machine called an autoclave for this. It’s like a big pressure cooker that they get their utensils in and out of.It’s also best if the foot baths don’t have the nodules as experts have told me these are tough to clean.

Be beautiful people.  But be safe.

ax