Artificially sweetened beverages: More than one per day can cause stroke

Drinking artificially sweetened beverages is linked to increased risk for ischemic stroke, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in women.

Among almost 82,000 participants in the Womens Health Initiative Observational Study, risk for fatal and nonfatal stroke was 23% higher among women who self-reported drinking the most diet beverages — two or more per day — compared to the women who consumed the least. The latter group drank none or less than one of these beverages per week.

The group with the highest consumption had an 81% elevated risk for small artery occlusion (SAO).

The findings were published online February 14 in Stroke.

Older biologic age linked to elevated breast cancer risk

If a woman’s biologic age is older than her chronologic age, she has an increased risk of developing breast cancer. NIEHS

Biologic age, a DNA-based estimate of a person’s age, is associated with future development of breast cancer, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. Biologic age was determined by measuring DNA methylation, a chemical modification to DNA that is part of the normal aging process.

The study showed for every five years a woman’s biologic age was older than her chronologic or actual age, known as age acceleration, she had a 15 percent increase in her chance of developing breast cancer. The study was published online Feb. 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

They found that if your biologic age is older than your chronologic age, your breast cancer risk is increased. The converse was also true. If your biologic age is younger than your chronologic age, you may have decreased risk of developing breast cancer.

India can be cervical cancer free: Lancet study

The average rate of annual cases across all countries could fall to less than 4 cases per 100,000 women by the end of the century, a study said

Cervical cancer can be eliminated as a public health problem in India in next 60 years by

1. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

2. Cervical screening more accessible

3. Treatment of pre-cancer

Early detection and prompt treatment of early invasive cancers and palliative care.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, with an estimated 570,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2018, of which around 85 per cent occur in less developed regions. HPV, a group of more than 150 viruses, is responsible for the majority of cervical cancers.

Proven methods are available to screen for and treat cervical pre-cancers, and broad-spectrum HPV vaccines can potentially prevent up to 84-90 per cent of cervical cancers.

Results showed that rapid vaccination scale-up to 80-100 per cent coverage globally by 2020 using a broad-spectrum HPV vaccine could prevent 6.7-7.7 million cases--but more than half of these would be averted after 2060.

If, in addition, cervical screening were scaled-up to high coverage by 2020, an additional 5.7-5.8 million cases of cervical cancer may be prevented globally in the next 50 years, and substantially speed up elimination.