Washington, (IANS) — Some changes in our diets, more physical activity and weight control could cut down colon and breast cancer cases by over 45 to 38 percent, according to a report by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).
In 2006, a total of 15,918 new cancer cases were diagnosed in Iowa out of which 1,858 were colon cancer and 2,156 were breast cancer.
"The best way to statistically reduce your chances of cancer is to avoid smoking," said Iowa Department Public Health (IDPH) 'Fit for Life' coordinator Dennis Haney.
"But this report indicates a significant number of cancer cases could be prevented just by eating better, moving more and maintaining a healthier weight."
According to the 2006-2007 Iowa Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), more than 80 percent of all adults did not eat the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables (at least five each day).
In addition, 60% of adults did not participate in the recommended amount of physical activity, and nearly 65 percent of Iowans were considered overweight or obese, said an AICR release.
In addition to improvements in diet and fitness, cancer prevention should include limiting sun exposure and using sunscreen; drinking alcohol only in moderation, if at all; and having regular health screenings such as mammograms, pap tests and colorectal cancer exams.

London, (IANS) — The elderly can dance their way towards improved health, happiness and well being, besides staving off illnesses.
A new study by Jonathan Skinner from Queen's University, Belfast, demonstrates the social, mental and physical benefits of social dancing for older people.
Recommendations include the expansion of social dance provision for older people in order to aid successful ageing and help them enjoy longer and healthier lives.
Skinner, social anthropology lecturer at Queen's, studied the effects of social dancing amongst older people in Northern Ireland, Blackpool and Sacramento, California.
"I have found that social dancing leads to a continued engagement with life - past, present, and future - and holds the promise for successful ageing," said Skinner.
"It contributes to the longevity of the dancers, giving them something to enjoy and focus upon - to live for. It alleviates social isolation and quite literally helps take away the aches and pains associated with older age," he added.
"In Northern Ireland, dancing brings people together across communities, creating solidarity, tolerance and understanding," he said, according to a Queen's release.
Sarah, a 70-year-old and a regular ice-dancer, who took part in the study said: "My daughters brought me down to the ice rink. I have to say, after years of dancing on a ballroom floor, I was very impressed and skating has great flow and speed.
"I've been doing it for 12 years now. We do the rumba, quickstep, foxtrot and tango. My instructor even wanted me to compete. My friends have commented that my energy is overwhelming, 'what's the secret?' they ask, and I just say 'keep dancing'."

Sydney, (DPA) — For half her life, 66-year-old Gael Lander struggled with high blood pressure that did not respond to the drugs usually prescribed.
"I really felt as if something or someone had pushed the fast-forward button," she said. "Everything raced - for example, my heart - and I didn't quite know what a feeling of calmness was or just being in a state of relaxation."
Then came a world-first operation that dealt with what's called resistant hypertension - the high blood pressure that pills couldn't deal with. The operation lasted less than an hour and was performed by doctors at Melbourne's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
A catheter pushed through the femoral artery and radio waves used to knock out the nerves in the blood vessel wall that pump blood to the kidneys. These sympathetic renal arteries help regulate blood pressure.
Lander's blood pressure is now down to a relatively safe 140/70 and her life has been transformed.
The institute's Markus Schlaich described the procedure as "one of the greatest achievements in the last 20 years within the area of resistant hypertension", adding that he was confident it would "be a part of medical practice in the relatively near future". A paper he co-authored on the procedure appeared in the journal The Lancet.

Moscow, (RIA Novosti) — Surgeons in Russia's Urals region were staggered to find a five-cm high spruce growing inside a man's lung, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported Monday.
The discovery was made while Artyom Sidorkin, 28, from the Urals city of Izhevsk, was undergoing surgery.
Sidorkin had complained of extreme pain in his chest and had been coughing up blood, doctors suspected cancer.
"I blinked three times and thought I was seeing things," Izhevsk surgeon Vladimir Kamashev told the paper.
Medical staff believe Sidorkin had somehow inhaled a seed, which later sprouted inside his lung. The spruce, which was touching the man's capillaries and causing severe pain, was removed.
"It was very painful. But to be honest I did not feel any foreign object inside me," Sidorkin said.