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Thyroid cancer is largely seen in women

Not a very common type of cancer, thyroid is a cancer of the thyroid gland, which is located in the front of the neck. The thyroid gland produces hormones which regulate normal body, heart rate blood pressure, body temperature and weight.

There are various types of thyroid cancer

Papillary thyroid cancer– Found mostly between people aged between 30-50 years of age.
Follicular thyroid cancer– Found among people of 50 years of age or above.
Medullary thyroid cancer– Its due to genetic cause and has cancer in other glands as well.
Anaplastic thyroid cancer– Commonly found in people above 60 years of age. Its an aggressive cancer.

Thyroid cancer is mainly seen in women rather then men. Thyroid gland lies in the lower part of the neck. For proper functioning of thyroid gland we need iodine, which we get from food.

Symptoms of thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer develops very slowly and usually shows no symptoms in its early stages. Some symptoms include;

A small lump in the neck shows up, which is painless in the initial period.
As the lump grows, pain in neck and throat can increase.
Hoarseness or problem speaking with a normal voice.
Breathing difficulties may come up.
The thyroid may be hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism.

Thyroid cancer is diagnosed through blood test, fine needle aspiration cytology( biopsy), Imaging scans( CT or MRI scans)

Treatment
If early stage of this cancer, it is curable through surgery, radioactive iodine and radiotherapy.

Surgery: surgery is a little risky treatment as it can affect the vocal cords of the patient. There may be breathing difficulties. The patient may also go through pain and difficulty in swallowing.
Thyroid hormone therapy: there is a possibility of removal of thyroid gland completely or partially and the patient will have to take replacement hormone tablets for the rest of his life and regular blood test will be needed
Radioactive iodine: for preventing thyroid cancer to reoccur, radioactive iodine therapy is needed which is a successor of surgery. This treatment includes strict diet of low- iodine.d

Does caffeine fight cancer?

Epidemiological studies have shown that caffeinated drinks may help prevent skin cancer by inhibiting a DNA repair pathway, thus killing potentially precancerous cells. In English, it means that drinking drinks containing caffeine will reduce one’s chances of developing some types of cancer, including UV-associated skin cancer. That just proves that caffeine fight cancer. The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lend support to the idea that caffeine could be added to sunblock to increase its protective effects. At the cellular level, they’re showing that caffeine is working in this way of inducing an apoptotic mechanism. This statement was then made by cancer epidemiologist Joanne Kotsopoulos of the University of Toronto.

In the 2007, a study stated that woman who drank caffeinated coffee on a daily basis had a 10 percent lower risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer. Six or more cups of coffee a day translated to a 30 percent reduction in risk. Mouse studies have also confirmed the link, with both ingested and topically-applied caffeine lowering skin cancer rates in the animals. But exactly how the stimulant protected against cancer remained mysterious. One possibility is the drug’s inhibition of ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR), a large protein kinase that senses incomplete DNA replication often a result of DNA damage and signals the cell to not divide. By inhibiting ATR activity, caffeine could make cells more likely to die in response to UV damage, preventing damaged cells from ever becoming cancerous.

Studies have shown that the caffeine molecule acts as a sunscreen. It therefore blocks the penetration of UV rays. And that is why today we see many sunblocks with a good amount of caffeine in them.

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Can sugar consumption cause breast cancer?

A recent study stated that drinking three sugar sweetened drinks a week would increase the risk of having breast cancer. The study had 776 pre-menopausal women and 779 post-menopausal women. Each women’s breast density was assessed by examining their mammograms. The women were told to make a note of sweet they consumed such as chocolates, cakes, ice cream or any sweet drinks. Also they were asked to make a note of how much of spoonful of sugar they add to the drinks.

It was then found out that post-menopausal women who consumed more of sugar, an increase in the density of breast. While the pre-menopausal women observed an increase in breast density when they consumed sugar food. These women, in a week were just consuming three sugar sweetened drinks. The study then further stated that sugar tends to increase the migration of breast cells together. This explains the fact that the premenopausal women who consumed sugar-sweetened drinks were 3 percent more likely to have dense breasts than those who didn’t consume the drinks. And having dense breasts increases your risk of breast cancer by making it difficult to see tumors on mammograms.

However, there is more to be studied on this matter. But until then there is still a link between the sugar consumption and breast density. About 40% of women in the US have dense breast and they are totally unaware of it. Doctors say that women with a dense breast are five time more likely to have a breast cancer and 10 times more likely to miss the tumor in the mammogram test.

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