Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer screening with odour material by canine scent detection Sonoda, H. et al. Gut doi:10.1136/gut.2010.218305

A Labrador retriever dog was able to sniff out colorectal cancer in breath and stool samples with a high degree of accuracy, even for early-stage cancer. This study included healthy individuals and patients with confirmed bowel cancer and demonstrates that cancer cells give off certain odours. The authors speculate that detecting these odours could become an important strategy in colorectal cancer screening.

Nutrition

Beverage-specific alcohol intake and bone loss in older men and women: a longitudinal study Jin, J. et al. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.9

Red wine might prevent bone loss in older men, but not older women, according to research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 862 individuals were included in this study, which assessed the relationship between bone mineral density and beverage-specific and total alcohol intake. Additional findings are that low-alcohol beer may be protective in women, and spirits may be harmful in men.

Obesity

Lifelong doubling of mortality in men entering adult life as obese Zimmermann, E. et al. Int. J. Obes. doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.274

A Danish study has investigated mortality associated with obesity among young men examined for military service between 1943 and 1977 and followed up for 65 years. 1,862 obese individuals and 3,476 controls were included. Mortality in obese individuals was twice that of the controls for all ages from 18 to 80 years. Year of birth and level of education did not significantly affect excess mortality. The impact on life-long health of entering adulthood as obese needs further investigation.

Colorectal cancer

Longitudinal adherence to fecal occult blood testing impacts colorectal cancer screening quality Gellad, Z. F. et al. Am. J. Gastroenterol. doi:10.1038/ajg.2011.11

Existing quality measures for colorectal cancer screening do not assess longitudinal adherence and may, therefore, be overestimating quality of care. In a retrospective cohort analysis of 1,122,645 patients aged 50–75 years, only 41.1% of men and 43.6% of women received adequate screening (defined as receipt of fecal occult blood test [FOBTs] in at least 4 out of 5 years or receipt of any number of FOBTs in addition to at least one colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy or double-contrast barium enema).