Health and Fitness News and Notes

Eating processed meat is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer, a review of studies found.

Most experts believe that processed meats, like hot dogs, bacon, ham and salami, are a carcinogen, but the evidence for the belief has depended mainly on studies of colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

For this analysis, in the International Journal of Cancer, researchers combined data from 16 prospective observational studies of the association of processed meat with breast cancer.

They found that high consumption of processed meat (about 25 to 30 grams a day, on average) was associated with a 9 percent increased risk for breast cancer compared to those who ate the lowest amounts (0 to 2 grams a day). The association with other red meat consumption was not significant.

The authors acknowledge that these are observational studies that do not draw conclusions about cause and effect, and that none could control for all possible risk factors.

The lead author, Maryam S. Farvid, a researcher in the department of nutrition at Harvard, said that the mechanism is unclear, but that the preservatives in processed meat might be one cause for the link.

In any case, she said, “My recommendation is that it’s good for women to cut down on processed meat.”

Women are commonly advised to drink extra water to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections, or UTIs, but until now there has been little evidence that it works. Now a randomized trial has found that women who drink more water do indeed get fewer infections.

Researchers studied 140 women with recurrent UTIs who habitually drank less than 1 1/2 quarts of water a day, and averaged 3.3 episodes of cystitis the previous year.

The scientists randomly assigned them to either continue their usual water and other liquid consumption or to drink an additional 1 1/2 quarts daily. The study is in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The women in the control group averaged 3.2 urinary infections over one year, while those who drank extra water averaged 1.7. There were no serious adverse events.

“We don’t know what proportion of recurrent infections are in people who are low-volume drinkers,” said the lead author, Dr. Thomas M. Hooton, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Miami. “But we can now say there are data that show that if you want to reduce your UTI risk, drink more fluids.”

The study was funded by Danone Research, which sells the Evian water that was used in the study. But, Hooton said, “There’s no reason to think that plain old tap water wouldn’t be just as effective.”

Taking low-dose aspirin is a daily routine for many people because it may lower the risk for heart attacks and strokes, and some research has tied it to a lower risk of colorectal cancer. Now a new study in JAMA Oncology suggests it may lower the risk for ovarian cancer as well.

Researchers followed more than 200,000 women for more than 25 years, recording data on lifestyle, health factors and disease outcomes and updating information with periodic interviews.

They found 1,054 cases of ovarian cancer. After adjusting for other variables, they found that women who took a baby aspirin — 100 milligrams or less — had a 23 percent reduced risk for ovarian cancer compared with those who did not. They found no risk reduction for those who took a standard 325-milligram pill.

“Our study has limits,” said the lead author, Mollie E. Barnard, a postdoctoral fellow at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, “but we do have prospective data, and a very large sample followed over a long period of time. And we were able to look at standard and low-dose separately.”

Barnard said that women should talk with their doctor before taking low-dose aspirin. “If future research confirms our findings, conversations on the risks and benefits of low-dose aspirin use may broaden to include ovarian cancer prevention,” she said.