High air pollution linked to stroke precursor; obesity raises cancer risk

Air pollution has been linked to a dangerous narrowing of neck arteries that occurs prior to strokes, according to researchers at New York Univerity's Langone Medical Centre. The scientists analysed medical test records for more than 300,000 people living in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. Dwellings, identified by zip codes, were ranked by average PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) levels. It was found that subjects living in the most polluted 25 per cent of zip codes were about 24 per cent more likely than those in the bottom quarter to have shown signs of narrowing in their carotid arteries. "Our study was a population study, so it can't establish cause and effect, but it certainly suggests the hypothesis that lowering pollution levels would reduce the incidence of carotid artery stenosis and stroke," says lead author and cardiologist Dr Jonathan Newman.

Obese women 40 per cent more likely to get cancer 

One in four obese women will develop a weight-related cancer in their lifetime, and that's about a 40 per cent greater risk than women of a healthy weight, new figures released by Cancer Research UK show. The increased risk is for at least seven types of cancer: bowel, post-menopausal breast, gall bladder, womb, kidney, pancreatic and oesophageal cancer. Dr Julie Sharp, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, says: "Losing weight isn't easy, but you don't have to join a gym and run miles every day or give up your favourite food forever. Just making small changes that you can maintain in the long term can have a real impact. To get started try getting off the bus a stop earlier and cutting down on fatty and sugary foods."