Explaining Why Meditators May Live Longer

The image of the ancient but youthful-looking sage meditating on a mountaintop might be closer to reality than you think, according to a new study that found that after a three-month stay at a meditation retreat, people showed higher levels of an enzyme associated with longevity. The study is preliminary and didn't show that meditation actually extends life, but the findings suggest a possible means by which it could. Researchers led by Tonya Jacobs of the University of California-Davis compared 30 participants at a meditation retreat held at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado with matched controls on a waiting list for the retreat. Participants meditated six hours per day for three months. Their meditation centered on mindfulness — for instance, focusing solely on breathing, in the moment — and on lovingkindness and enhancing compassion towards others.

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Climate change can cause cancer

Scientists have warned that melting glaciers and ice sheets are releasing cancer-causing pollutants into the air and oceans. The long-lasting chemicals get into the food chain and build up in people's bodies - triggering tumours, heart disease and infertility.

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Cancer groups ignore chemicals, food additives as culprits in disease

October is breast cancer awareness month, which means pink ribbons and literature about getting mammograms litter the landscape even more than they normally do during the rest of the year. But many women who have survived the disease are questioning the role environmental chemicals play in contributing to breast cancer, and wondering why groups like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the American Cancer Society (ACS) -- groups that claim to be doing everything possible to find a cure -- have nothing to say about it.

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New study links breast cancer to hormone therapy

TORONTO — The first Canadian study of its kind is adding to a growing body of international evidence suggesting that the use of hormone replacement therapy may raise the risk of breast cancer.

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Painless laser device could spot early signs of disease

Portable devices with painless laser beams could soon replace X-rays as a non-invasive way to diagnose disease.

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Mammograms less effective in detecting cancer

Routine mammograms are less effective in detecting breast cancer than expected. A research, published in New England Journal of Medicine , is the latest to show that the benefits of mammography are limited and will open up debate over the treatment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that mammograms reduce the breast cancer death rate by 25 per cent in women over 50.

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Andrew Weil: Medical Marijuana's Tremendous Potential for Curing Ailments

If an American doctor of the late 19th century stepped into a time warp and emerged in 2010, he would be shocked by the multitude of pharmaceuticals that today's physicians use. But as he pondered this array (and wondered, as I do, whether most are really necessary), he would soon notice an equally surprising omission, and exclaim, "Where's my Cannabis indica?"

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Tom Eley: US War Crimes: Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima

According to the authors of a new study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009,” the people of Fallujah are experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those Japanese cities were incinerated by US atomic bomb strikes in 1945.

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A Truly Toxic Issue: Our Chemical Environment

A truly toxic issue Modern life is saturated with carcinogenic chemicals. But without regulation, just how are we supposed to avoid them?

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Study shows how radiation causes breast cancer

It's well-established that exposure to ionizing radiation can trigger mutations and other genetic damage and cause normal cells to become malignant. So it seems amazing how mainstream medicine frequently dismisses the idea that medical imaging tests from mammograms to CT scans could play much of a role in causing breast cancer.

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