Chicken Nuggets

Dear Dr. Bone,

My mother hates it when I eat McDonald’s food. She says that the chicken nuggets are loaded with chemicals. Would I be more likely to get cancer from eating too many chicken nuggets? If so, what kind of cancer?

Junk Food Junkie 

Dear Junk Food Junkie,

Hard question to answer. I won’t single out one fast food chain. Most chicken nuggets bought at a fast food restaurant are made with combinations of chicken meat and what are called by-products. These are other parts of the chicken including the tendons that attach muscles to bones. They grind the meat into a paste and add food starch, dextrose, and other flavorings. There is no documented evidence that the contents of nuggets cause cancer and it is highly unlikely that eating nuggets now and again will cause cancer. However, a diet rich in vegetables and fruits will help to prevent cancer. So, if you are going to eat chicken nuggets and fries, you’d be smart to order the apple slices or carrot sticks to go along with them!!!

Dr. Bone

Juicing and Cancer

Dear Dr. Bone,

I just read an article about the power of juicing and a raw diet to prevent cancer. What do you think?

Health Nut

Dear Health Nut,

I am so happy that bring up prevention as a topic. Cetainly we wouldn’t need to work so hard on treating cancer if we could prevent it in the first place! I may sound like a broken record, but cancer is not just one disease. If it were, then we could probably come up with the right way to prevent it. Instead, there are so many reasons people get cancer, that no one behavior will guarantee that you won’t get cancer. Eating organic, or raw, or juicing is a healthy thing to do because you get the recommended daily intake of various fruits and vegetables. Whether those choices really prevent cancer has not been proven. My personal opinion is that moderation and personal happiness is the key. That would translate to some raw, some cooked. Juicing, but not necessarily every day. Red meat on occasion, but not as a staple.  I applaud people who take an interest in their food choices because they usually exercise and maintain their weight as well – both of which seem to be correlated with a lower risk of many diseases including cancer.

Dr. Bone

Convincing A Friend To Quit Smoking

Dear D. Bone,

I know this is not exactly a question about cancer, but I thought you might help. My sister died of lung cancer after smoking for 40 years. My nephew is now a grown man with children. He smokes like a chimney! He watched his mother die but won’t quit. Is there anything that can be done to convince him that he needs to stop smoking now?

Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

It is hard to believe that someone who has watched a loved one die of a smoking related cancer still smokes themselves. Remember, smoking is an addiction, and a lesson learned from Alcoholics Anonymous is that you cannot change a person who is addicted. They must want to change themselves. All you can do is love and support them. His own family can make rules that he cannot smoke inside the house because of the risk of exposure to second-hand smoke, but more aggressive intervention will probably not work. Until he is ready to quit smoking, any nagging, warning, prodding, or begging is in vain. I suggest that you simply make him aware that you are available if that time should arrive. Then, there are medications, support groups, hypnotism, laser, acupuncture, etc. to make it easier.

By the way, for those of you inclined to quit smoking, there is an urban legend that for each year you quit smoking, your risk of lung cancer goes down. Unfortunately, former smokers make up a considerable portion of lung cancer patients. The risk remains high for a very long time. Please, please use that as motivation to quit NOW.

Dr. Bone

How To Convince A Friend To Get Genetic Testing

Dear Dr. Bone,
My friend was diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer. I remember reading your column that mentioned it could be hereditary. I want to tell my friend that she should ask her doctor to be tested, but I worry that I am invading her privacy. What do think?

E.R.


Dear E.R.,

I can see how your situation is a sticky one. On one hand you are concerned for your friend’s health and the health of her family members. On the other hand, discussing personal issues like genetic testing can seem too private. There is no one right answer. However, if you put yourself in your friend’s shoes, you might be able to figure out what to do. If she tests and is positive, she will be able to help save her children, siblings, and grandchildren from going through what she is experiencing now. If she tests negative, she will know that she did not pass on a very high risk to develop fallopian tube and other cancers related to it. Since she already has cancer, there is little downside to getting her tested.

So how do you broach the subject? It can be difficult to bring it up in a face-to-face conversation. Perhaps you can include a pamphlet on genetic testing in a greeting card. Your note should explain that you are offering this information because you care so much about her. After that, I would drop the subject and let her decide on her own what to do. To that end, I am sending you some pamphlets and you can decide on your own what to do.

Best of Luck,
Dr. Bone

Self Breast Exam

Dear Dr. Bone,

I am a good patient who goes for annual mammograms, but I do not do breast self exam.I am afraid that I won’t know what I am feeling or that I will find something. I feel guilty about it but have heard various things about how important it is to do regularly. What do you think?

M.M.

Dear M.M.

If only I had a nickel for the number of times that I’ve heard those comments! You are not alone. There are many studies pointing stressing the importance of self exam to find cancers, especially ones that do not show up on mammogram and come up between mammograms (called interval cancers). Other studies show that breast self exam does not necessarily improve survival from breast cancer or long term outcomes. My feeling is that you should try to do them, but not beat yourself up about it if you do not do them regularly. There are now kits available to improve your technique by using silicone or other liquids between to layers to improve your skill. While these may be helpful, if you can just start with soap and water in the shower and try to cover all areas of the breast and armpit it is a good start. Remember, almost every woman has some lumps and bumps. Anything hard, stuck, and painless may be important. Try to examine during the week after your period is over when the breasts tend to be less sensitive. If you are postmenopausal, just pick the first of the month or your birthday number. I liken breast self exam to moving to a new city. In the first few months you don’t know your way around, but eventually, you know the streets well and would notice if there is a traffic detour. Once you make breast self exam a habit, any changes, even small ones, will probably stand out without a conscious effort.

Having said all that, don’t cancel your mammogram! Do them both.

Dr. Bone

Please take advantage of the following videos of Dr. Melanie Bone explaining both a stand up and laying down breast self exam.

Plastic Bottles and Cancer

Dear Dr. Bone,

 I drink a lot of water everyday and got nervous when I was sent a message on-line that drinking water out of plastic disposable bottles, especially if they are hot after being left in the car, poses a risk for developing breast cancer. I even read that Sheryl Crowe thinks this might be why she got breast cancer. Is there any truth to this?

Heavy on H20

Delray Beach

Dear Heavy,

First let me remind you that although water is healthy to drink, Americans (and many of my patients!) think that they need to drink large amounts of water each day to cleanse and “detoxify” their systems. The truth is that the human body does not need quite as much water as one would think and those people that drink water only when they are thirsty are no less healthy. I do see women who are depleted of electrolytes because they drink too much water and urinate so much that they lose potassium and sodium along the way, so be careful.

As for the association between plastic water bottles and cancer, the answer is a bit complicated.  There are different plastic bottles. The pliable ones that are designed to be disposable are made of PET (polyethylene teraphthalate), or a #1. This type of plastic is used in many different products and appears to be safe. The hard plastic bottles (like Nalgene or Lexan) are made out of BPA (bisphenol A). There is controversy about this compound. Some scientists believe that BPA acts biologically like estrogen and could promote estrogen-related cancers.

Until more definitive studies are done, it is best not to take any chances. The “green” advice is to use glass, or an old-fashioned thermos (lined with glass). It is better for the earth and, to my knowledge, glass has not been associated with any particular health hazards.

Dr. Bone