Trumka warns lawmakers on health care overhaul

By SAM HANANEL (AP)

WASHINGTON — The man expected to become the AFL-CIO's next president said Monday that lawmakers would pay a political price if they abandon a government-run option in any health care overhaul.

"We need to be a labor movement that stands by our friends, punishes its enemies and challenges those who, well, can't seem to decide which side they're on," said Richard Trumka, currently the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer.

In remarks to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, Trumka singled out lawmakers "who say they are all for health care reform, but refuse to stand up for a public system that puts people before profits."

Trumka's remarks came in a broader speech that outlined his goals for making labor unions more appealing to younger workers and stemming the historic decline of union rolls.

Labor unions have been among the most vocal boosters of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. But Trumka and other labor leaders have expressed frustration with signs that Obama and other lawmakers are wavering in their support of a public option that would cover millions without health care insurance.

"I think they need to understand that that you can have a bill that guarantees quality, affordable health care for every American, or you can have a bill the Republicans will vote for," Trumka said. "But you can't have both."

The warning is consistent with comments that Trumka has made in several recent public appearances. Union support for Democrats is often taken for granted, but Trumka has said the nation's largest labor federation would do more to hold elected officials accountable if they fail to back labor's causes.

That includes support for a measure that would make it easier for workers to organize unions. Trumka said he still expects a version of the Employee Free Choice Act to be passed in Congress this year, though Senate leaders have said the bill is on hold while lawmakers address health care and other more pressing legislation.

Trumka said passage of the union organizing bill would help rebuild the economy by boosting union membership and raising workers' wages through the collective bargaining process. Business groups adamantly oppose the measure.

Trumka is poised to become the AFL-CIO's president in mid-September at the organization's quadrennial convention in Pittsburgh. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that Obama plans to speak at the convention on Sept. 15.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce planned to begin airing its second round of television and radio ads opposing the Democratic plan on Tuesday morning in 21 states, aimed mostly at lawmakers who seem undecided. Chamber officials said the buy would total about the same as the first round of commercials, which began airing about three weeks ago and cost about $7 million.

The ad accuses Democratic leaders of trying to rush the bill through Congress because it would force higher taxes and deeper budget deficits.

"The fast sale on government-run health care? No way," the ad says.

WebMD - Better information. Better health.

The leading source for trustworthy and timely health and medical news and information. ...medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. ...
www.webmd.com

Human Brain Feeds On Lactate Not Glucose During Exercise

Written by Catharine Paddock, PhD Researchers in Denmark and The Netherlands have discovered that during exercise,
the human brain shifts into a higher gear and uses an "alternative energy" source:
it does not feed on glucose but on lactate...
[read article]

What is 'safe sex'?

Safe sex means sexual activities which you can do even if one person is infected with HIV, and they definitely won't pass it on to the other person. Loads of activities are completely safe. You can kiss, cuddle, massage and rub each other's bodies. But if you have any cuts or sores on your skin, make sure they are covered with plasters (band-aids). Nothing you do on your own can cause you to get HIV - you can't infect yourself by masturbation.

Is there a cure Aids/HIV?

There is no cure for HIV. HIV is a virus, and no cure has been found for any type of virus. Recently, doctors have been able to control the virus once a person is infected, which means that a person with HIV can stay healthy for longer, but they have not managed to get rid of the virus in the body completely.

National Cancer Control Programmes

Each year, cancer affects more than 10 million people worldwide and kills 6 million, even though many cases are preventable or treatable through early detection. Without effective control of the disease, these figures will...

World's Largest Hand (Lui Hua - China)

Lui Hua suffers from a rare condition known as macrodactyly. When he was hospitalized in Shanghai on July 2007, his left thumb measured 10.2 inches and his index finger measured close to 12. On July 20 surgeons undertook a seven-hour operation to reduce the size of Liu's fingers and thumb. Doctors removed 11 pounds of flesh and bone in the procedure. A second surgery is scheduled to take place. Enlarged limbs can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Lymphedema is perhaps the most common cause and results in some extraordinarily enlarged limbs.

Daily Exercise Suggestions

Walk 10 Minutes a Day and Increase Your Fitness Level Old thinking was to work out in a sweat-filled gym for hours a day. No pain, no gain. New studies show that even short bouts of activity can increase your fitness level, especially if you're new at working out.

Park and Walk
Whenever you have an errand, park your car as far away as you can handle and walk to the store. At the mall, park at the farthest end and walk the length of the mall. Use every opportunity to walk. At the end of the day, it all adds up to better fitness.

Crunch in Bed
Before you even get out of bed in the morning, do 10 stomach crunches while lying flat on your mattress. Increase daily by one until you get up to 100. Think you'll never get there? Try it. You may eventually have to set your clock to wake up 15 minutes earlier, a small price to pay for a flatter stomach.

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) is important for kids

DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid.Omega-3 are polyunsaturated fatty acids which have been studied for their role in health and well-being. Omega-3s come in three major forms: DHA, EPA and ALA. Although it's found in most tissues throughout the body, the highest concentrations of DHA are in the brain, nervous system and retina of the eye. DHA has also been shown to help promote hearth health.The more DHA that is consumed in the diet, the more DHA is available for these tissues.

DHA come from
DHA appears in highest concentrations in fatty fish, walnut, but is becoming increasingly available in fortified foods like Horizon Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, which uses life's DHA, a sustainable plant-based vegetarian DHA.
Studies have shown that DHA, found naturally in breast milk an as added supplement in most infant formulas.

Why is DHA important for kids?
Kid's brains grow incredibly fast. In fact, the brain nearly quadruples in size in the first five years of life. Up to 20 percent of the human brain is made of DHA, yet most kids don't get the recommended DHA from common dietary sources like fish. By choosing products fortified with DHA, parents bring home all the goodness of their children's favorite foods, plus an extra nutritional boost for their growing minds and bodies.

YOUR KITCHEN CORNER WON'T LET YOU WEAK WITH COLD

Someday you have cold? You're not alone, we all ever getting cold and bad day because headache, runny noose, cough and weak a lot in the bed. That's because a cold virus gets inside our body. If we let this symptom, we'll not have get better. Take a cold symptom medicine is not enough without meal. Whereas if this symptom getting in our body usually our appetite will gone or became little.

There are food that taste warm and fresh for people with cold. Chicken soup that cooked with onion, garlic, celery, leek/ spring onion , ginger, salt & black pepper then served with slice lemon juice is not just taste so delicious, but it will heal people having cold or the flu. Ingredients in this soup made cold sufferer getting better by eat this soup continue.

Besides that, fruits will help make cold sufferer getting better. Try fruits that warm, sweet, sour free and contain a lot calsium, potassium, fiber, antioxidantss in it such as tomatoes, persimmon, fruit star, orange, blueberries or papaya.

Juice is also good to drink beside drinking water a lot. When my kid have a cold, he like to drink carrot juice or apple juice, 1/2 cup or 1 cup a day. After few times drink it, he became better without medicine. There are antioxidants and beta-carotene in carrot. Green apples have a lot juice and the taste kids like it. Antioxidants and fiber in apples protects our body from virus that cause sick.

Ginger tea is good to heal runny nose, adult and kids will love it. To make ginger tea, first bake/ grill ginger in the oven/ grill not longer than 5 minutes. Then slice or break with morton the ginger and boil it with enough water and some sugar. Strain the ginger tea after boiled, serve with honey if you don't like sugar.

Take a lot nap and take multivitamin are need until you fell better. Take medicine or go to doctor if need it.

PROBIOTIC good bacteria that our body need it for healthy

MANY DEFINITIONS OF 'PROBIOTIC'

"Probiotic" means, literally, “for life.” As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a probiotic is a living microorganism that, when administered in adequate amounts, confers a health benefit on its host. Essentially, a probiotic is a culture that, if eaten in sufficient quantities, gives health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Anyone can take probiotics simply to maintain and balance of intenstial microflora. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most common type of microbus used. LAB have been used in the food industry for many years, because they are able to convert sugars (including lactosa) and other carbohydrates into lactic acid. This not only provides the characteristic sour taste of fermented dairy foods such as yoghurt, but act as a preservative, by lower pH and creating fewer opportunities for spoilage organism to grow. Strains of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are two principal kinds of probiotic bacteria.

Probiotics are dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast. Probiotic help strenghten our body defenses.
For hundreds of a years dairy foods containing live cultures have been touted as having beneficial properties and scientific studies now support many of these claims. Increasing numbers of health-conscious people workwide are including those foods with functional benefits in their diets.

NATURAL PROBIOTICS
Products natural probiotics can found on dairy product such as yoghurt or milk product (cheese, butter or milk formula that contains lactit acid). Fruits, seeds or nuts and vegetables have natural probiotics too. Fermentation vegetable such as tempeh, miso, tamari have natural probiotics that good to consume it. We need probiotic from supplement or foods for healthy and strong body prevent from diarrhea or other intestines diggestion.

Espesially with baby , only after 1 year old we can give them probiotics (supplement) to prevent them from diarrhea (most baby have this problem). Breast feeding or formula milk are have probiotic, but the breast feeding is the good one since they have a natural probiotics and other vitamin and mineral that important for the babies.

LET'S TALK ABOUT GINGER

Ginger is root plant that has long been popular throughout the world as healthful herb for healing, beverage, condiment herb for cooking and spicy herb for cake or cookies. Ginger root is actually a rhizome, a root-like underground stem. Ginger is the common name for the monocotyledonous perennial plant Zingeber officinale roscoe. Ginger was brought to the West from Asia, where it has been used as healthy herb and food spice for 2,000 years or more. The ginger plant has long history of cultivation know to originate in China and then spread to India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Carribean.
THE GINGER TEA TRADITION
Ginger has been used in China since the 4th centery B.C. In China, ginger traditionally was used as a warming beverage. It was a popular drink, consume during meals and at other times of the day. It is said that Chinese scholar Confucius had ginger nearby at every meal. It was regarded as a tonic for yang "chi", or energy, and was a favorite infusion during the cold and chills season. Ginger has become increasingly popular because of its delicious, warming and spicy taste.
GINGER AROUND THE WORLD
General market in around us usually provides one or more of ginger fresh, ginger powder or pickled ginger. Many country have different kind of ginger and their product.
BENEFITS OF the GINGER
Research on rats suggests that ginger may useful for treating diabetes. People many countries are still using ginger products for reducing commond cold, prevent the flu, relieving stomach-ache, flatulence, nausea, morning sickness and many more.

Benefits of Ginger for Women

There are lots of benefits on ginger for us . For women, you must to know lots about the ginger benefits . Many ginger benefits for women we need to know:

• Ginger was claim by women because it help rid women from menstrual cramp. This is because ginger mimics some digestive enzymes used toprocess protein in the body, and is known to act as a gasstronintestinal antispasmodic.
• Ginger tea could help mom produce more breastfeeding for her baby.
• Ginger tea also reducing or avoid morning-sick for pregnant mom.
• If we always have headache and felling bad from inside the stoomach following with trough-up during trip with car, boat, or plane, ginger will reduce or avoid these commons. Ginger tea, rice soup with lots of ginger, or ginger candy will help this problem. Sometime the ginger avoid those kind problem if we take it before trip.

Getting better soon from cold and flu

By: gate(about health life) source ideas: redbook magazine.com handbook page write by: Nicole Yorio

Always having cold or flu every winter or on change season? So.. why don't you have a flu shots. Already had a flu shots but sometime stiil got flu or cold.. however but these articels maybe will help you to know lots about how treating cold and prevent it.

It is important to prevent our body from germs and virus causing cold or flu. Especially in winter season or wet season in any country. How to stay well in these season:

• Always wash our hand everytime after done with some jobs.
• Avoid anything kinds dirty that usually little or lots have germs causing sick. Stay warm in winter, use scraf to cover nose and mouth if walk outside as possible as you can are better to avoid germs around cold- icy weather.
• Avoid anyone with sniffles like the plague.
• Get plenty sleep.

You'll lower your odds of getting sick, but germs are everywhere, and you can't dodge them forever. The key to staying healthy are strengthening your immune system to fight agains the winter bugs you do come in contact with. There are germ fighting food suggestions from M.Eric Gershwin,M.D.,editor of handbook of Nutrition and Immunity.

• Green tea (decaf): There're antioxidants in green tea help heal infections.
• Dark chocolate (semi-sweet/unsweet one): The antioxidants in cocoa keep immune cells working.
• Shiitake mushrooms: Lentinan, a carbohydrate found in these tasty mushrooms, may boost cells' response to infection.
• Greens: Green leaf loaded with zinc, which helps white blood cells function.
• Garlic:Using garlic regularly can prevent or reduce the severity of common infections.
• Apples: Their antioxidants help prevent colds.

And here are five easy methods to boost our body's defenses during cold-and-flu season.

1. Get a massage. Massage lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which destroys immune cells, according to a study by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medial School. Massage also ups your stores of natural killer cells-the immune system's front lineof difense.It only takes a 20-minute weekly rubdown to reap the benefits, so solicit of backrub from your guy, buy a vibrating massager , like the Buzz Mini Massager ($20, brookstone.com), or book a professional massage (massage-therapy schools may offer discounted prices;find one at naturalhealers.com).
2. Take vitamins C and E. You've probably heard that vitamin C help you get over a cold faster, but it's even more effective if you also get enough vitamin E. Vitamin E makes white blood cells more efficient at fighting off infection, says Brian Levine,M.D., medical director of The Cough Center in Laguna Hill, CA. You need 65 to 75 mg of vitamin C daily, but if you feel a cold coming on, get up ti 1,000 mg by taking a supplement or noshing on natural sources like berries, peppers, and citris fruits. Vitamin E can be toxin if taken in larga doses, so don't take a high dose supplement. You'll get the 100 to 200 mg you need for immune support from your multiand by eating almonds, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds, all good sources of vitamin E.
3. Have a good laugh. Women who laughed aloud while watching funny videos had higher levels of germ-fighting killer-cell activity than those who watched unfunny videos. Indiana State University study said, Laughter may lower cortisol levels and release endorphins, feel-good chemicals that trigger immune cells.
4. Go dancing. Those who listeed to popular music experienced a 28 percent rise in levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A ( lgA ), according to a study from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre,PA.
5. Make whoopee. Sex also releases mood-boosting chemicals called opioid peptides, which rouse the immune system.

THE SUGAR-DIABETES CONNECTION

THE SUGAR-DIABETES CONNECTION

Sugar does not cause diabetes. Many people believe that sugar is the prime cause of this condition. This is a typical case of confusing the treatment of the disease with the cause. An example given is, you take an aspirin for the headache but the headache was not caused by a lack of aspirin in your body. The aspirin treats your headache . Similarly, when a low-sugar diet is recommended to diabetes patients is does not mean a high-sugar intake was the cause of their diabetes in the first place. A review on sugar in the US Surgeon-General's Report concluded that sugar, at current intake level, is not the cause of diabetes.The report acknowledges that excessive sugar intake does cause dental cavities but not diabetes. The major factor implicated in the increased incidences of diabetes Type II (non-insulin dependent) is obesity. Meanwhile Type I diabetes (insulin-dependent) is believed to be genetic. This type of diabetes is caused by a pancreas malfunction resulting in insufficient insulin levels in the body.authorities worldwide have urged people to adopt good lifestyle measures to reduce their risk. A balanced diet and regular exercise are essential components of good, healthy lifestyle.

FOOD ADDITIVES

FOOD ADDITIVES may be aggravating your health. We should avoid it like avoid a plague if we feeling bad, after consumed it. Some people suddenly began to return homefeeling ill, headpounding, face red, wheezing like an out-of-shape person who had just climbed a steep hill. Those became after they had a party and take food and drinks too much without know the label on food that tell about food additives on it. In many country, label on food and drinks do little more than decorate the package. The information they contain is minimal but it helps, if we're sensitive to chemical.

CHEMICAL CONCOCTIONS Most of us can recognise sugar and producs nowadays, even if it is in its"disguised" form as glucose, sucrose or whatever. But how many of us know what "BHA" is?. Or "plysorbate 60"? When you consider that most of us consume 50 kilos of additives every year, it makes you wonder what we are doing to our bodies.The news is not all bad, though

Cancer Basics

• What is cancer?
  
  
• All living things - ourselves included - are made up of cells. Cells are microscopic packages of living material and we have billions of them. They come in many different types: liver cells, brain cells, blood cells and so on. In the normal adult, cells only grow and divide slowly and under very tight control to make sure that the number of cells in each tissue stays the same. Cancer begins when one cells changes and startys growing and dividing rapidly and out of control. This one cells divides to give two cells, then four, eight and so on until they form growing mass of cancer cells - called a tumour.

• What do malignant and benign mean?

• In some tumours, the cells stay in the same place and as the tumour stops growing before it gets very large - often because it simply runs out space to grow. These are called benign tumours and they are not normally dangerous. We all have benign tumours, such as moles and warts. However, in other tumours the cells are able to invade the surrounding tissue and spread into nearby organs where they can cause serious and, eventually, fatal damage. These are called malignant tumours.

• What is metastasis?

• In many malignant tumours, as the cells spread, they come across blood vessels. If they actually spread into the blood vessel, they get carried around the body and eventually get stuck in a smaller blood vessel in another part of the body. Here they begin to divide and grow again eventually forming a new tumour. These are called secondary tumours or metastases. This process of cancers spreading around the body is called metastasis.

• Do genes cause cancer?

• Every cell carries a set of coded instructions for every activity or function that it can perform. Different genes are active in different cells, which is why a brain cell carries out many different activities from muscle cell. Genes also carry the coded instructions for basic functions of the cell such as the way cells grow and divide. The growth and division of normal cells is tightly controlled by the activity of certain genes. However, when these genes are faulty or when they mechanisms controlling the activity of these genes is damaged, it can cause the growth and division of the cells to go out of control - in other words, the become cancerous. Genes themselves do not cause cancer. When they function normally, genes prevent cancer. However, it is when some genes become damaged that they can malfunction and cause cancer.

• Can you inherit cancer?

• Cancer itself cannot be inherited, but some people do inherit a higher risk of getting cancer. This is because they inherit, from their parents, a slightly damaged version of one of the genes involved in controlling cell division. On its own, this damaged gene is not enough to make cells cancerous. Normally, two or three different genes have to be damaged before a cell will become cancerous. That is why so very few of the billions of cells in our body ever become cancerous. However, if someone starts out with every cell in their body carrying damage in one of these genes, the chance of a cell getting the other types of gene damage and becoming cancerous is much higher. Some of these inherited damaged genes have been identified, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 which increase the risk of getting breast cancer by five to seven times.

• Do tumours need a blood supply?

• A tumour usually starts with a single cancerous cell that begins growing and dividing. The resulting mass of cancer cells soon gets large enough to need a new blood supply to provide oxygen and nutrients and to remove waste products. Without a blood supply, the cells in the middle of the tumour will die off. In fact, tumours without a blood supply are unable to grow more that about one millimetre across. As soon as they start growing, tumours release small, hormone-like molecules that cause nearby blood vessels to start growing towards the tumour until they actually form a new branch supplying the tumour with blood.

Prostate Cancer FAQs

Q. What is the prostate?

A. The prostate is a small gland located underneath the bladder in men. It is shaped like a doughnut and fits around the tube (called the urethra) which carries urine out of the bladder. The prostate produces the fluid that mixes with sperm when a man ejaculates.

Q. What is prostate cancer?

A. Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in men in many western countries. However, most prostate tumours are slow-growing and may not need treatment. Others grow quickly and eventually spread to the bones, where they can cause severe pain. Currently there are 30,000 new cases a year in the UK; 215,000 in the USA; 20,000 in Canada and 12,000 new cases a year in Australia.

Q. What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

A. The main symptoms are: difficulty passing urine, inability to urinate, passing urine often (particularly at night), weak or interrupted urine flow, pain when urinating, blood in the urine and pain in the lower back, hips and upper thighs. However, all of these symptoms can also be caused by other conditions such as benign prostate enlargement. Men with any of these symptoms should consult their doctor.

Risk Factors

Q. What causes prostate cancer?

A. In most cases, we do not yet know the cause of prostate cancer. Exposure to high levels of radiation is one known cause, but this only accounts for a tiny proportion of cases. However, between 5% and 10% of cases run in families, where the patient inherits a high risk of this type of cancer.

Q. Which men are at risk?

A. Prostate Cancer is very rare in men under 50. The risk increases after the age of 50 with half of all cases occurring in men over 75. Men from families with a history of prostate cancer are at higher risk than normal.

Q. Is diet linked to prostate cancer?

A. Some evidence suggests that a low-fat diet can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Other studies have suggested that a diet high in tomatoes, Vitamin E, cruciform vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts) and selenium can also reduce your risk. However, apart from selenium (see below), these findings have not been confirmed.

Q. Will a vasectomy increase the risk of prostate cancer?

A. It was thought that a vasectomy increased the risk of getting this cancer, but more recent research has suggested that there is no real difference in risk between men who have had a vasectomy and those who have not.

Q. Can prostate cancer be prevented?

A. Although there is no known way of preventing prostate cancer, studies have shown that men who took 200 microgrammes of selenium each day substantially reduced their risk of prostate cancer.

Q. Does prostate cancer run in families?

A. Some families have a higher risk of prostate cancer than others. The normal risk of getting prostate cancer some time in your life is 1 in 13. Having one or more close relatives (father or brother) who got prostate cancer under the age of 70 increases your risk by two or three times (ie your lifetime risk is between 1 in 7 and 1 in 4).

Treatment

Q. What treatments are available for prostate cancer?

A. Sometimes prostate cancers are so slow growing that no treatment is needed. However, when treatment is necessary, there are three main types used:

• Surgery - in an operation called a prostatectomy, the whole prostate gland is removed.
• Radiotherapy - in radiation treatment, high energy rays kill the cancer cells. This will help destroy the original tumour and also reduces the pain caused by tumour cells which have spread to the bones.
• Brachytherapy - this is a newer type of radiotherapy in which small radioactive pellets or wires are inserted directly into the prostate tumour, killing it from the inside. This is at least as effective as the other treatments and sometimes more so. There are also usually fewer side-effects with brachytherapy.
• Hormone therapy - since the growth and division of the prostate cancer cells depends on androgens (the male hormones), drugs can be used to either reduce the level of androgens produced by the body or block the effect of androgens on the cancer cells. These stop the growth of the tumour and sometimes shrink it. However, after about five years, most prostate cancers go on to develop the ability to grow without androgens and the hormone therapy stops working.
• Surgery - in an operation called a prostatectomy, the whole prostate gland is removed.

Breast Cancer FAQs

Q. How common is breast cancer?

A. There are over 212,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the USA each year. In Canada the figure is 20,500, Australia 13,000 and in the UK the figure is 41,000. Overall, one woman in every nine will get breast cancer at some time in her life.

Q. Who is most at risk?

A. Breast cancer is overwhelmingly a female disease, but about 1% of cases occur in men (around 300 per year in the UK). Amongst women it becomes more common as age increases. More than 80% of cases occur in women over 50. Taking the contraceptive pill slightly increases the risk. Taking hormone replacement therapy significantly increases your risk somewhat more, but the health benefits derived from hormone replacement are better overall. Obesity and heavy drinking also significantly increase the risk.

If one or more relatives have had breast cancer, this also increases your risk of developing it (see below).

Q. Does breast cancer run in families?

A. Having one close relative (mother or sister) with breast cancer doubles your risk of getting breast cancer, when compared to women with no cases in the family. Having two close relatives affected increases your risk further.

There are a very few families in which breast cancer is very common - ie four or more cases. Most of these families carry faulty versions of the 'BRCA' breast cancer genes. Women with a faulty BRCA gene have a 50% to 80% chance of getting breast cancer. Testing for faulty BRCA genes is available on the NHS.

Q. Is the use of deodorants linked to breast cancer?

A. There has been a persistent internet rumour that underarm deodorants cause breast cancer and even one or two newspaper articles that suggested this was backed up by research findings. However, there is no good evidence from cancer research to support this idea. On the contrary: in a large study comparing breast cancer patients and healthy women, there was no difference found at all in their use of underarm deodorants.

What are the symptoms of Breast Cancer?

Screening for breast cancer by mammography (X-raying the breast) is offered every three years in the UK to all women between 50 and 64. The highest number of cases of breast cancer occurs in women between these ages.

Mammography can detect very early breast tumours, when they are too small to be felt. In fact, most of the breast cancers detected by screening are at this very early stage, when they are relatively easy to cure. Studies have shown that women who take part in screening are more likely to have breast cancer diagnosed early and more likely to have it cured and, as a result, are less likely to die from it, than women who do not take part in mammography screening.

Another method of screening available to all women is to feel the breasts for any lumps. A guide on how to do this properly can be obtained at any doctor's surgery. Women should also check for the other main symptoms:

• Change in the size or shape of a breast
• Dimpling of the breast skin
• The nipple becoming inverted
• Swelling or a lump in the armpit