One of the most frustrating side effects of certain cancer treatments is neuropathy. Neuropathy is characterized by burning and tingling in the hands and feet. It is caused by nerve damage due to some types of chemotherapy. New research suggests that a Japanese herbal medicine called Goshajinkigan (GJG), may help minimize, and possibly prevent, neuropathy.

For the study, researchers in Japan examined rates of neuropathy in 90 patients with advanced (metastatic) colorectal cancer who had received chemotherapy that included the medication oxaliplatin. Oxaliplatin is one of the types of chemotherapy most likely to cause nerve damage that leads to neuropathy. The 90 patients had received their chemotherapy in one of four ways:

• Group A: Along with 7.5 grams per day of Goshajinkigan (GJG) herbal medication, taken orally (by mouth)
• Group B: Along with 1 gram each of calcium gluconate and magnesium sulfate, given intravenously, before each chemotherapy treatment
• Group C: Along with combined GJG and calcium gluconate and magnesium sulfate therapies
• Group D: Alone, without either GJG or calcium gluconate and magnesium sulfate

The researchers report that:

• 50% of people in Group A experienced neuropathy
• 100% of people in Group B experienced neuropathy
• 78.9% of people in Group C experienced neuropathy
• 91.7% of people in Group D experienced neuropathy

Only the people who received their chemotherapy with GJG herbal medication alone, had a significantly lower overall rate of neuropathy compared with no herbal medication or calcium/magnesium therapy. The authors concluded that giving GJG herbal medication along with oxaliplatin can reduce the rate of neuropathy. In this study, GJG reduced the rate of neuropathy by half.

Is GJG for You?

Goshajinkigan (GJG) is a Japanese herbal preparation that can contain up to 10 different herbs. For this reason, it may be difficult to obtain exactly the same herbal formula that was used in this study. If you are going to be receiving chemotherapy that can cause neuropathy, talk to your doctor about all of the options available for managing and preventing this side effect. There are medications that may help and other dietary supplements that are more easily obtained in the US, such as glutamine (a protein supplement).

It's unlikely that your doctor will have heard of Goshajinkigan, because it is not regularly used or available in the US. You can print out a copy of this research and share it with your doctor. He or she may be able to contact the study authors to find out more about Goshajinkigan and where it may be available for purchase.

If you plan to take any over-the-counter (OTC) medications or dietary supplements, always talk to your doctor first. Some OTCs and supplements can interfere with chemotherapy, making it less effective or more toxic. For this reason, it's vital that you work with your medical team to decide which therapies, including supplements and OTCs, are best for you.

For those of us who enjoy an alcohol-containing drink now and then, a large study out of Great Britain offers reassurance that drinking in moderation will not increase colorectal cancer risk. This type of research provides important pieces of the puzzle on causes of colorectal cancer.

Health experts have known for some time that higher levels of alcohol consumption, which is defined as more than 2 drinks per day for a man and more than one drink per day for a woman, can increase the risk of several cancer types, including colorectal cancer. But less has been known about how moderate drinking affects cancer risk

This new study, which looked at drinking habits and colorectal cancer diagnoses in over 24,000 British adults, found that moderate, regular alcohol drinking does not increase risk. The study did find a hint that the type of drink may make a difference regarding whether alcohol can actually decrease colorectal cancer risk.

It turns out that wine, either red or white, may decrease colorectal cancer risk. In this study, one or more glasses (servings) of wine per day appeared to decrease colorectal cancer risk by about 39%. Wine contains certain phytonutrients - naturally occurring compounds from plants - that have been linked with lower risk of some types of cancer, so this may explain why wine in particular appeared to decrease risk of colon cancer in this study.

Drinking and Your Health

If you do enjoy alcohol, keep the following in mind when deciding what and how much to drink:

• To decide whether drinking is OK for you, consider your personal and family medical history. For example, alcohol consumption is linked with higher risk of breast cancer, but lower risk of heart disease. If you have a strong family history of heart disease, but no history of breast cancer, a drink per day might make sense for you. If you have a personal or family history of breast cancer, but are at low risk of heart disease, it may be better for your health to forgo drinking.
• One drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor.
• For good health, men should drink no more than 2 drinks per day and women should drink no more than 1 drink per day.
• You cannot "save up" your daily allotment of drinks and have 7 or 8 drinks in one evening. This is considered binge drinking and can have serious health consequences. Seven drinks once a week is not the same as having one drink each evening.
• If you want to "hedge your bets", red wine may be the healthiest type of alcoholic drink due to the phytonutrients it contains.
• Finally, if you have a personal history of alcohol abuse or problems controlling your drinking, do not consider using alcohol for health reasons. It is not worth the risk that you may become dependent on alcohol. No matter how you look at it, excessive drinking is dangerous and bad for health.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has recently released a comprehensive set of guidelines on Colorectal Cancer Screening. These guidelines are an important part of reducing serious illness and death due to colon cancer. When caught early with routine screening, colon cancer is easier to treat and much more likely to be cured than when it is discovered in more advanced stages.

By making the guidelines available to anyone, NCCN is helping health care providers in all types of medical care settings identify exactly who needs colon cancer screening, and when and how often they need it. This may seem like a "no-brainer", but it turns out that making these guidelines available can improve health care in many parts of the US.

In some small and rural health care settings, access to the latest research and information on cancer screening and treatment may not be readily available to doctors. This puts the people who are seen in these areas at risk of not receiving the best medical care possible for cancer prevention and treatment.

I'll admit, it makes for pretty dry reading, but if you need a set of these guidelines to share with your health care provider, now you can get them. Just check out the NCCN's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Most everyone understands that smoking cigarettes greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. Unfortunately, not nearly as many people understand the connection between smoking and risk of other cancers. Now we can definitively add colon and rectum (colorectal) cancers to the list of diseases caused by smoking.

In one of the most comprehensive studies on this topic to date, researchers discovered that a long-term history of smoking increases risk of colorectal cancer by 30-50%. In particular, colorectal cancer risk was highest in those who did not quit smoking before age 40 or who smoked cigarettes for 40 or more years.

If you smoke, quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do to improve your health and reduce your risk of cancer. Along with the new study showing that smoking significantly increases the risk of colon cancer, previous research indicates that smoking increases the risk of 16 other cancers as well.

In summary, smoking significantly increases the risk of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, nasopharynx, nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, larynx, lung, esophagus, stomach, colorectum, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder and lower urinary tract, uterus, cervix, and myeloid leukemia.

Kicking the Habit to Lower Cancer Risk

If you smoke, quitting is the single most important thing you can do to improve your health. But don't go it alone. Numerous studies prove that using quitting aids, ranging from the nicotine patch and chewing gum, to medications that blunt the urge to smoke, to support groups, greatly increases your chances of success. Cold turkey is just plain hard, and more importantly, harder than it needs to be.

Knowing that a smoking habit has many reinforcing aspects to it - the physical addiction, the "ritual" of lighting up, social pressure from fellow smokers - should convince anyone that it's wise to take all the help you can get when you're ready to quit. Along with using quitting aids and support groups, keep in mind that for most people, it takes many attempts to quit to be successful.

Think of each attempt to quit as a fact-finding mission. For example, you can learn what things trigger a relapse, so you can avoid them the next time around. When you put enough of these "self-awareness" facts together, you will increase your odds of successfully quitting.

It also may help to remember that you're quitting as a gift to yourself and your loved ones. While it may feel like punishment to quit smoking, it will feel better and better, like the gift it is, over time.