Diet may reduce risk of common cancers  

While those wanting to lose weight consider the relative merits of counting carbs versus counting calories, those hoping to lower their risk for some of the most prevalent forms of cancer may be better off doing as parents often say, "Take your vitamins and eat your vegetables."

Two case-control studies presented at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research compared specific eating habits of healthy individuals to those with prostate and bladder cancers to assess the relationship between dietary factors and incidence of disease.

Two forms of vitamin E appear to lower the risk of prostate cancer by as much as 53 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively, based on the findings of a team of scientists from the United States and Finland.

Nuts and seeds, whole grain products, vegetable oils, salad dressings, margarine, beans, peas and other vegetables are good dietary sources of vitamin E. See Canada's Food Guide for Healthy Eating for other healthy sources.

Consuming vitamin E also lowers the risk of bladder cancer, according to the findings of a case-control study from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"High intake of vitamin E from dietary sources alone was associated with a 42 per cent reduced risk of bladder cancer, whereas high intake of vitamin E from dietary sources and supplements combined reduced the risk by 44 per cent," the Texas researchers reported.

More than 5,000 cases of bladder cancer are reported in Canada every year with Ontario having one of the lowest rates of bladder cancer in the country.

For more information about cancer prevention, visit HealthyOntario.

Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman received and committed to act on the final report from Dr. David Walker and the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control.

This report makes recommendations for improving Ontario's public health system based on lessons from the SARS outbreak.

"Our government will bring a new mandate, new leadership and new resources to public health," said Smitherman. "The final Walker report together with the Campbell interim report, the Naylor report and the upcoming report from Dr. Ross Baker on patient safety will give us a strong platform to drive forward a comprehensive public health strategy for Ontario."

The final report builds on the 53 recommendations from the interim report of the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control.

"Our government has taken key actions to address challenges in public health identified in the Expert Panel's interim report," said Smitherman.

""Within months of being elected, we appointed Dr. Sheela Basrur as Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health to bring strong, focussed leadership to public health in Ontario. We've established open and cooperative relationships with federal and municipal governments."

Smitherman says that he will release a comprehensive action plan for public health in two months, which will look at :

• Public health leadership and accountability
• Creation of a health protection and promotion agency for Ontario
• Legislative changes to increase the independence and strengthen the role of the Chief Medical Officer of Health
• Health emergency preparedness
• Expanded health human resources

In addition to the appointment of Dr. Basrur, the Ontario government has brought together experts and emergency professionals from all three levels of government to develop Ontario's Health Pandemic Influenza Plan. We have also implemented emergency response measures including rapid response teams and the Emergency Medical Assistance Team, and issued directives to all health care facilities for use during both outbreak and non-outbreak situations.

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