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The chemical acrylamide, which is classified as a probable cancer-causing agent, does not appear to increase overall risk for mouth, throat, voice box, or thyroid cancers, with one possible exception, study findings hint.

Besides a possible link to an increased risk of mouth cancer among non-smoking women, Dr. Leo J. Schouten at Maastricht University, and colleagues observed no link between low to high levels of dietary acrylamide and other head-neck or thyroid cancers among 120,852 Dutch people followed for more than 16 years.

However, the small number of mouth cancer cases in the group calls for further investigation to determine “whether there is a real association or just a chance finding,” Schouten noted in an email to Reuters Health.

Acrylamide is found in some starchy foods cooked at high temperatures such as French fries and potato chips, baked goods and coffee. Animal studies have indicated acrylamide may cause cancer, and in 2005 the World Health Organization called for lower levels of acrylamide in food. However, studies of any link to human cancers have produced variable results.

Using food frequency surveys obtained when participants’ were 55 to 69 years old, Schouten’s team estimated the men’s and women’s average daily acrylamide intake at 22.5 and 21.1 micrograms, respectively, they report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Coffee accounted for about 47 percent of this intake. Dutch spiced cake, cookies, French fries, and potato crisps accounted for another 15, 13, 8, and 2 percent, respectively.

Besides the noted exception among non-smoking women, there was no link between acrylamide and head/neck and thyroid cancers in analyses that allowed for age, gender, smoking status, number of cigarettes smoked, and number of years spent smoking, as well as other demographic and dietary factors.

Considering that acrylamide molecules are small, water soluble, and, have the potential to reach nearly every organ and tissue in the body, the current findings are generally “reassuring,” Schouten said.

He reiterated, however, that further investigations need to confirm or refute these findings.

In the mean time, Schouten and colleagues advise limiting acrylamide intake, particularly in foods with minimal or no health benefits, such as French fries and potato crisps.

More than just a bad bout of stomach flu, some food-borne illnesses can cause long-term consequences, especially for young people, a report released on Thursday has found.

Researchers at the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention in Pennsylvania studied the five most common food-borne diseases and found they can cause life-long complications including kidney failure, paralysis, seizures, hearing or visual impairments and mental retardation.

“It’s not just a tummy ache,” the center’s Tanya Roberts told a news briefing.

An estimated 76 million Americans become sick each year from food-borne illness, 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half are children under 15.

Since 2006, outbreaks have been linked to peanuts, peppers, ground beef, spinach and other common foods.

Diarrhea and vomiting are the most common symptoms of food-borne illness, and typically last only a few days.

But in 2 to 3 percent of cases, food-borne disease can cause serious long-term health problems, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

For the report, the team studied campylobacter infection, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Toxoplasma gondii.

In addition to diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting, campylobacter infection can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, the most common cause of paralysis in the United States. It can also trigger arthritis, heart infections, and blood infections.

E. coli O157:H7 infection can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, the leading cause of acute kidney failure in children in the United States.

Listeria has been linked with infections of the brain and spinal cord, resulting in serious neurological dysfunctions or death. It kills about 1 in 5 people.

Salmonella bacteria can cause reactive arthritis, a painful form of arthritis that can interfere with work and quality of life.

And infants whose mothers were infected with toxoplamosis, caused by a food-borne parasite, can develop mental retardation, crossed-eyes and in some cases blindness in one or both eyes.

“It’s not just these five,” Roberts said. “There’s over 200 pathogens that have different kinds of consequences and these consequences can be prevented,” she said.

Sandra Eskin, director of the Food Safety Program at the nonprofit Pew Health Group, said she hopes the report will prompt action on legislation pending in Congress to reform food safety in the United States.

“We started 2009 with a major food-borne illness outbreak linked to peanut butter and peanut butter products. It ultimately resulted in nine deaths and sickened more than 700 people in 46 states,” Eskin said. “Families should not have to wait another year for safer food.”

Constipation occurs when it becomes difficult or painful to have regular bowel movements. What’s “regular” varies by person, however.

Some people have three bowel movements per day, while others have three movements per week, the American Academy of Family Physicians says.

Here are the academy’s suggestions for staying regular:
When you feel the need to have a bowel movement, don’t put it off.
Schedule time each day to have a bowel movement, such as after a meal.
Boost your fiber intake.
Drink plenty of water — aim for eight glasses each day.
Don’t rely on laxatives, as taking them too frequently can worsen constipation.
Get regular exercise.
Avoid sugary and high-fat foods that can contribute to constipation.

Declining use of hormone replacement therapy may be driving down rates of a condition called “atypical ductal hyperplasia,” a known risk factor for breast cancer, new research suggests.

This is the first time a link has been found between atypical ductal hyperplasia — abnormal cells in the breast’s milk ducts — and hormone therapy, said Diana Miglioretti, senior author of a paper published in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

“It sounds like another reason not to take hormones,” said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge.

“This is part of a pattern that combined use of hormone therapy with both estrogen and progesterone does something to a woman’s breast that predisposes them to atypical ductal hyperplasia, which is felt to be a precursor to certain types of malignancies,” Brooks added.

If atypical ductal hyperplasia does turn out to be a precursor to breast cancer, this link would be a good indicator of how use of hormone therapy — often used for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes — can help spur malignancy.

The findings are in keeping with other recent research showing a decline in breast cancer rates since the release of results from the Women’s Health Initiative, a major trial that caused many women to stop taking combined (estrogen plus progesterone) hormone therapy.

The Women’s Health Initiative was halted in July of 2002 after researchers found higher risks of heart attacks and breast cancer in women taking the hormone supplements compared with placebo.

Since that time, use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has experienced a precipitous decline.

According to experts, women diagnosed with atypical ductal hyperplasia have a three to five times increased risk of developing breast cancer, either in the same breast or the opposite breast.

Atypical ductal hyperplasia “is a benign condition but it is a risk factor for breast cancer. It’s not clear if it’s a precursor to breast cancer,” said Miglioretti, who is a senior investigator with the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. “This sheds light on more of the breast process, how HRT affects breast cancer.”

Miglioretti and her co-authors analyzed almost 2.5 million screening mammographies from samples provided by the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. The mammograms were done between 1996 and 2005.

In 1999, atypical ductal hyperplasia was found in 5.5 per 10,000 mammograms but by 2005 had declined to only 2.4 per 10,000, a drop of more than half. This occurred despite an increase over time of rates of mammography, which tend to pick up the abnormality.

Meanwhile, breast cancer cases in women with atypical ductal hyperplasia declined from 4.3 per 10,000 mammograms in 2003 to 3.3 per 10,000 mammograms in 2005.

And postmenopausal use of hormone therapy dropped from 35 percent to 11 percent.

The study also revealed that cancers associated with atypical ductal hyperplasia tend to be less aggressive, lending support to the theory that less aggressive and more aggressive cancers develop differently, the authors stated.

One breast cancer expert said the new study dovetails with recent trends in breast cancer incidence.

“The finding they report is consistent with [previous] observations that suggested there was a drop in incidence of breast cancer in about 2003 and it coincided with when the Women’s Health Initiative reported that estrogen-plus-progesterone use was associated with an increased risk of heart attacks as well as a slight increased incidence of breast cancer risk,” said Dr. James Liu, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at MacDonald Women’s Hospital, Case Medical Center, University Hospitals in Cleveland. “The association caused many women to either question their need to be on [hormone therapy] or stopping it.”

But, cautioned Liu, “the data is not strong enough to say this observation was caused by [a decline in hormone use] but it is a very strong association.”