Archives for June 2022

BREAKING: e-cigarettes pulled from shelves

BREAKING: e-cigarettes pulled from shelves

BREAKING: The FDA announces all JUUL e-cigarette products, including menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, must be pulled from shelves across the U.S.

E-cigarettes have been touted as a “safer” version of tobacco products. This may be true in regards to lung toxin exposure but many of the same and even new risks remain. Nicotine, the main active ingredient increases risk of cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke, similar to traditional cigarettes. Thus, making e-cigarettes just as addictive as traditional ones.

In addition, e-cigarettes are not the best tool for tobacco cessation, essentially tobacco users are replacing one evil with one slightly less toxic one. Most concerning is the use among teenagers and young adults. E-cigarettes, especially flavored products, have attracted a population that may have never used tobacco products if e-cigarettes did not exist.

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network – ACS CAN

Public health is paramount when regulating tobacco products—especially a product proven to be driving the country’s youth e-cigarette epidemic. 83% of youth e-cigarette users say they use flavored products like JUUL. In 2020, 1.3 million kids were frequent or daily users of e-cigarettes.

ACS CAN commends the FDA for this decision and for doing the right thing to protect public health, especially for our kids. We urge the agency to enforce this decision swiftly and we remain committed to working with Congress, state, and local lawmakers to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products.

Can prostate health be found in a bottle?

Can prostate health be found in a bottle?

There are many different names for products that manufacturers are hoping you think that if taken as recommended will lead to a “healthy prostate”.  You have most likely noticed them in the store or online with names ranging from Prostate Defense to Super Beta Prostate Support. Other than a high price tag are they really any better or even just as good at enhancing men’s health than what we can ingest naturally in our food?

There is significant evidence that focusing on a plant based diet contains the necessary nutrients to promote prostate health. Diets that a rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and healthy oils provide an appropriately balanced amount of these nutrients that you would unlikely even need a multivitamin. 

Specific nutrients that may help decrease the risk of prostate cancer include isoflavones including soybeans, tofu, and edamame beans. Green tea also includes flavonoids which act as an antioxidant which may prevent precancerous growths from beginning cancerous tumors. Antioxidant properties can also be found in red fruits such as watermelon, pink grapefruit and tomatoes, or vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussel sprouts.  

The supplement of magnesium is fairly easy to get in your diet. Sources of magnesium include fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds, tofu, and dark chocolate.  

When considering whether to reach for a pill it is also important to realize that your body tends to absorb food nutrients better than supplements in the form of a pill. Furthermore, many of these products include higher levels of certain supplementation that are not needed or used by the body or may actually be dangerous for certain men.

If you make the above food choices in your daily diet, you will both save money and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

Remission in Every Patient

Remission in Every Patient

Promising clinical response for rectal cancer patients

This weekend, Green Bay Oncology providers attended ASCO in Chicago where the results of a phase II trial was discussed involving patients with mismatch repair deficient locally advanced rectal cancer. These patients received treatment with PD-1 blockade, dostarlimab, and had a complete clinical response. This is exciting news for this subgroup of cancer patients.

Typically, locally advanced rectal cancer is treated with combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed by surgical resection. The standard approach does demonstrate a reasonable overall positive response but can have permanent effects of fertility, sexual health and bowel and bladder function. The implications of this study are quite profound and may lead to a remarkable change in our treatment approach.

The results are preliminary, and the long-term follow-up has not been completed to define if the responses are durable. However, with all these caveats, it is still quite impressive.

It encourages us to be relentless in research. Patients willing to participate in clinical trials are the hope for improving long-term survival and overall quality of life.

Dr. Tony Jaslowski

NY Times Article
New England Journal of Medicine Study