Increased Risk of Brain Cancer

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	Increased Risk of Brain Cancer

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Conditions that suggest it | Contributing risk factors | It can lead to... | Recommendations


	The results of the study, published today in the British Medical Journal, indicate that no matter how long you have used a phone for, or how frequently you make and take calls, your risk of developing a brain tumour remains the same. The survey, conducted by the Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester Universities in conjunction with London's Insititute of Cancer Research, focused on the incidence of glioma - the most common form of brain tumor - in phone users. The researchers interviewed 966 people, aged 18 to 69 years, with glioma brain tumors and 1,716 randomly selected healthy individuals. They were all asked about their mobile phone usage, including how long they had used mobile phones, the number and duration of the calls they made, and what make and model of phone they had used. The interviews took place between 1 December 2000 and 29 February 2004, and included people in the Thames region, southern Scotland, Trent, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. The results contradict earlier studies exploring potential relationships between brain tumour risk and mobile phone usage. [January 20, 2006] 2011. Heavy cell phone users worried that they might be setting themselves up for cancer can breathe easier. The biggest study to look for any connection has found no link. It followed more than 350,000 people for about a decade and says heavy cell phone users have the same cancer rates as people who don't use cell phones. The study, out of Denmark, confirms a smaller one reported on last year (2010). It also confirms the assessments of the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.

Conditions that suggest Increased Risk of Brain Cancer:

Hyperprolactinemia

A pituitary tumor causing compression of the pituitary stalk and the empty sella syndrome can result in an elevated prolactin level. You can be reassured that hyperprolactinemia usually is associated with a relatively benign condition (pituitary microadenoma or hyperplasia) that requires only periodic monitoring. However, it is important for your doctor to exercise vigilance and to consider the evaluation of other potential cancerous causes. Prolactin levels in patients with larger adenomas are usually higher than 100 ng/ml. There is no strong evidence that small adenomas necessarily progress to grow into large tumors.

Risk factors for Increased Risk of Brain Cancer:

Symptoms - Cancer

History of brain cancer

Increased Risk of Brain Cancer can lead to:

Cancer / Risk - General Measures

Please see the subject Cancer / Risk Reduction - General Measures.

Recommendations for Increased Risk of Brain Cancer:

Diet

Artificial Sweetener Avoidance

In 1981 Satya Dubey, an FDA statistician, stated that the brain tumor data on aspartame was so "worrisome" that he could not recommend approval of NutraSweet. In a two-year study conducted by the manufacturer of aspartame, twelve of the 320 rats fed a normal diet and aspartame developed brain tumors while none of the control rats had tumors. Five of the twelve tumors were in rats given a low dose of aspartame. The approval of aspartame was a violation of the Delaney Amendment which was supposed to prevent cancer-causing substances such as methanol (formaldehyde) and DKP from entering our food supply.

The late Dr Adrian Gross, an FDA toxicologist, testified before the US Congress that aspartame was capable of producing brain tumors. This made it illegal for the FDA to set an allowable daily intake at any level. He stated in his testimony that Searle's studies were "to a large extent unreliable" and that "at least one of those studies has established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals...." He concluded his testimony by asking, "What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act? .... And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law, who is left to protect the health of the public?"

In the mid-1970s it was discovered that the manufacturer of aspartame falsified studies in several ways. One of the techniques used was to cut tumors out of test animals and put them back in the study. Another technique used to falsify the studies was to list animals that had actually died as surviving the study. Thus, the data on brain tumors was likely worse than discussed above. In addition, a former employee of the manufacturer of aspartame, Raymond Schroeder, told the FDA on July 13, 1977 that the particles of DKP were so large that the rats could discriminate between the DKP and their normal diet.

It is interesting to note that the incidence of brain tumors in persons over 65 years of age has increased 67% between the years 1973 and 1990. Brain tumors in all age groups has jumped 10%. The greatest increase has come during the years 1985-1987.

In his book, Aspartame (NutraSweet). Is it Safe?, Roberts gives evidence that aspartame can cause a particularly dangerous form of cancer - primary lymphoma of the brain.

Lab Tests/Rule-Outs

Test AMAS (AntiMalignin Antibody Screen)

KEY

		Strong or generally accepted link
		Proven definite or direct link
		May do some good

GLOSSARY

Benign: Literally: innocent; not malignant. Often used to refer to cells that are not cancerous.

Cancer: Refers to the various types of malignant neoplasms that contain cells growing out of control and invading adjacent tissues, which may metastasize to distant tissues.

ng: Nanogram: 0.000000001 or a billionth of a gram.

Pituitary: The pituitary gland is small and bean-shaped, located below the brain in the skull base very near the hypothalamus. Weighing less than one gram, the pituitary gland is often called the "master gland" since it controls the secretion of hormones by other endocrine glands.

Prolactin: An anterior pituitary peptide hormone that initiates and maintains lactation.