$100,000 curled in for prostate and breast cancer research
Canada’s top cancer killers for men and women should be looking over their shoulder.
Women with Brooms raised more than $100,000 after costs for prostate and breast cancer research on Nov. 30 at the Avonlea Curling club during the 11th annual Curl for the Cure. Joined by celebrity guest chef Juan Salinas, who gave endless healthy cooking demonstrations the two organizations involved (the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and Breast Cancer Society) are trying to curb the trend that is seeing the incidence of both diseases increasing.
"This year in Canada about 40,000 men and women will be diagnosed with prostate and breast cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, and breast cancer is the most common among women," said John Blanchard, president and CEO, Prostate Cancer Research Foundation.
"The incidence is growing very quickly so the annual incidence will outnumber the combined incidence of the number two and three cancers for men (lung and colorectal). Very likely in the next 10 years the total number of new cases of prostate cancer annually will exceed total the number of cases of the two and three cancers lung and colo combined."
The two foundations have joined forces the past 11 years to jointly raise funds for research. Much of the credit should go toward the women who have raised the bar each year and making the event more and more successful. The top fundraiser this year barely won by mere dollars as her total of just over $3,700 stood up.
"They called their members and they said ‘well is there some other charity we should be sharing money with?’ Overwhelmingly the response back was prostate cancer. I think that if you look at the stats, it’s every bit as common as breast cancer and just as deadly. So I guess it was an easy decision for them to make," Blanchard said.
"Many of the women have an older brother or dad who have had a brush with the disease so they are conscious of it. They came to us and asked us to make a proposal and we made a presentation and they were very impressed that the funds they would be raising and sharing with us would be put to good use."
While there is no concrete evidence linking a specific cause to prostate cancer, because the long term studies involving thousands of men over a number of years are still in the early stage, there are things you can do to reduce your risk of procuring a disease that kills 9,000 Canadians annually. On a daily basis that number is between 25 and 30 deaths on averag,e or just over one death an hour in Canada alone.
"Almost in all cancers, we know because the cancer rates are higher in the west than in the east — of the world that is — we know that animal fat is a huge factor. So for all cancers whether its testicular or lung or whatever I think everyone out to reduce their percentage of all the calories they consume in a day that are comprised of animal fats by a considerable amount, probably down to 25 per cent. The Canada food guide can give people tips," added Blanchard.
"If we could eat more like Asians, we’d live longer. It’s really the case. Many Asians who come to Canada as immigrants do not retain those habits, indeed they adapt to our rather bad eating habits very quickly. so in the case of prostate cancer where it’s almost unknown in Asia when Asians come here, by the second generation their rates of prostate cancer are approaching those of occidentals in Canada. So it’s those fatty foods.
For more tips on living a healthier lifestyle and consuming a healthier diet in an effort reduce your risk of prostate as well as other cancers cosult the Prostate Cancer Research Foundations Web site (www.prostatecancer.ca) as well as the (Canada Food Guide).
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Increase consumption of:
— Green leafy vegetables
— Skins of red or purple grapes or berries (that would include red wine)
— Green tea
— Fatty fishes
— Garlic
— Leak
— Likopein (tomato, pink grapefruit, mango)
supplements (some things don’t come common enough in food like selenium zinc and vitamin E)
Some things men can do to reduce their risk:
— Exercise more
— Reduce fat consumption
— Increase vegetable and fruit consumption