Should cancer be treated or not?

This is tricky business. Since 1992, the diagnoses of eight cancers in people under 50 has doubled in the U.S. Those cancers include thyroid, anus, kidney, small intestine, colorectum, endometrium (uterus), pancreas and myeloma (blood cancer). Breast cancer is also on the rise.

But here’s the thing: some cancer specialists say this surge is the result of an “epidemic of detection”—finding cancers that wouldn’t have killed patients. One doctor notes, “The epidemic narrative not only exaggerates the problem, but may also exacerbate it. While more testing is often seen as the solution to an epidemic, it can just as easily be the cause.” As another doctor noted, “We are a very imaging-happy society.”

Not every cancer is dangerous. Some go away on their own; others stop growing or pose no risk. Autopsy studies repeatedly find that many people die with small cancers they were unaware of. Prostate cancer is one of these; so is thyroid cancer. The problem is that it’s impossible to know if someone’s cancer will be deadly or not, and if the cancer is gone after treatment, there’s no way to know if it needed to be treated.

Other doctors believe the surge in cancer diagnoses is real and serious. While the death rates for six of the cancers mentioned in the first paragraph are flat or declining, the death rates of colorectal and endometrial cancers have increased. Some scientists attribute this increase to the obesity epidemic, or something amiss in people’s microbiomes, or toxins in the environment. They’re trying to figure it out.

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Saturated fat (again)

 I’m not afraid of eating saturated fat. In fact, I eat plenty of it.

“Saturated” refers to fats, such as butter and animal fats, that are firm when refrigerated. Unfortunately, the term, “saturated,” makes it sound like the fat is somehow loaded with goop. In fact, it simply describes the composition of the fat molecule: each carbon atom in the molecule is linked to two hydrogen atoms such that the carbon is “saturated” with hydrogen atoms.

Saturated fats do not clog arteries. They are either burned for fuel or stored in your fat cells. Your cells need saturated fat to help your body perform important chemical processes and make use of vitamins and minerals. For example, saturated fat makes it possible for calcium to be incorporated into your bones.

Scientists have conducted trial after trial comparing the health effects of saturated fats to unsaturated fats, such as vegetable oils. The National Institutes of Health spent several hundred million dollars trying to demonstrate a connection between eating saturated fat and getting heart disease but never did find the connection.

In reviewing the data from the numerous trials, scientists had plenty to say. For example, “…after 50 years of research, there was no evidence that a diet low in saturated fat prolongs life.…if saturated fatty acids were of no value or were harmful to humans, evolution would probably not have established within the mammary gland the means to produce saturated fatty acids…that provide a source of nourishment to ensure the growth, development, and survival or mammalian offspring.”

By the way, most fats are a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Lard is only 40 percent saturated fat. Olive oil is 13.7 percent saturated fat, which is why it turns cloudy when refrigerated.

So go ahead and slather your toast with butter. That's what I do.

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Those food pyramids!

The 1994 food pyramid had you eating mostly starchy food: 6 to 11 servings of “bread, cereal, rice and pasta.” 

In adhering to the high-carbohydrate, low-fat recommendations, we increased our yearly consumption of grain by almost sixty pounds per person and our consumption of sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup, by thirty pounds per person. The number of young people under the age of 20 with Type 2 diabetes grew by 95% from 2001 to 2017. A third of all people over 65 are diabetic. (Carbohydrates spike blood sugar.)

The 2011 food guide, below, reduced the grains to 30 percent of our diets, but also included the phrase "switch to 1% or skim milk."

Rigorous research has concluded that saturated fats, such as the butter fat in milk, have no effect on “major cardiovascular outcomes,” including heart attacks, strokes or mortality. As the American College of Cardiology states, "The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary." (I don't believe in limiting saturated fats.)

I’m no fan of JFK, Jr., but the new pyramid (below) makes more sense to me, although it still limits saturated fat to about 20-22 grams for a 2,000-calorie diet. This limit is nearly impossible to achieve, especially if you’re eating red meat. 

Looking at these vacillating recommendations over the years, you might be thinking, what the heck?! Like me, you can just ignore them, especially considering that members of the guidelines panels have ties to food industries. The problem is that schools, military personnel, and others who receive food through federal programs are required by law to follow the guidelines. Poor them.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.

Exercise benefits

For the new year, here are some quotes from scientists about the benefits of exercise:

Euan Ashley, a professor of cardiovascular medicine, genetics, and data science at Stanford, says, “Exercise is just the single most important intervention you can think of for your health.” In analyzing data of more than half a million people over the course of ten years, he found that exercise reduces our chances of having atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hip fractures, and colon cancer by at least 50 percent. Unlike other interventions that might target one aspect of health, exercise affects nearly every system in your body.

According to neuroscientist Justin Rhodes, exercise can reverse the effects of a genetic bad hand by lowering the risk of a variety of ailments, including heart disease. Exercise also slows aging in several ways: by promoting the growth of stem cells in muscle, expressing genes linked to longevity, and lengthening telomeres. Rhodes contends that we can introduce exercise at any point in our lives and that, for every hour we exercise, we tack two hours onto our life span. 

I read in a recent JAMA article (2025) that “individuals with the highest levels of physical activity at midlife and late life had 41% and 45% lower risk of all-cause dementia, respectively, compared with those with the lowest levels of physical activity.” The study used data collected since 1971 from 5,124 participants.

For my exercise regimen, at age 89, I load Jazzercise on Demand onto my iPad and perform one of their 30-minute dance cardio routines followed by 10 minutes of upper body strength training using two five-pound weights. After that, I do a series of yoga stretches. I follow this routine on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. (I’d rather just sit.) Lots of people walk for their exercise, but the road we live on is too steep. I do my walking on our weekly golf outings.

Plenty of old people live long lives without exercising, but I’ve decided not to chance it. Besides, I’m trying to stave off further deterioration.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.