Are your kitchen countertops killing you? Stop laughing -- I'm being serious here. There might be a very real and potentially deadly source of radioactive gas in your home--your granite countertops. According to this article from the New York Times, granite countertops can contain high levels of Uranium, which is radioactive in itself, and when it decays, it releases radon, a radioactive gas. If that's not frightening enough, consider this: radon can cause lung cancer.

Not all granite countertops are dangerous, but have the potential to be. What can you do to protect yourself? Test the merchandise before you buy it by hiring a certified technician to measure your radiation levels or picking up a DIY tester from the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Via Crabby McSlacker)

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It's no mystery that vegetables are good for you. The list of reasons why spans far longer than the space provided between these margins.

That's why I decided to focus on one health benefit in particular: the apparent relationship between vegetable consumption and reduced lung cancer risk. Women's Health magazine reports that people who eat at least one daily serving of vegetables lower their risk of this cancer by as much as fifty percent compared with people who ate less veggies than that.

Because they are high in antioxidants, veggies are formidable opponents for carcinogenic free radicals and tobacco smoke, say folks at Women's Health. Keep your lungs healthy by adding broccoli, spinach, and other cancer-fighting vegetables to your daily diet.

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Keep your red and processed meat consumption to a minimum to avoid an increased risk of cancer, says a new study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute in the Public Library of Science Medicine.

Researchers found that people who ate the most of these specific types of meat had the highest risk of developing colorectal and lung cancers. Evidently, compounds created during cooking or the digestion of these types of meat damage DNA and in many cases result in the growth of tumors.

To help minimize your risk, the best -- and most obvious way -- to do so is to cut back on the amount of red and processed meat you consume. Researchers suggest sticking to around 3g per 1,000 calories you eat.

Bad news for women in the Washington Post yesterday. A study, also published yesterday, reveals evidence that life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American females.

According to the Post, the study cites that in nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s. This marks the first decline in life expectancy for a significant number of women since the Spanish influenza of 1918, the Post reports.

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If you're a former smoker, you've already done wonders for your health by quitting. But insofar as lung cancer is concerned, the damage caused in the past may still come back to haunt some people. The good news is that there may be ways to help stave off this post-cessation lung cancer, and all it involves is eating some veggies.

A study conducted at the University of Texas revealed that ex-smokers, who consumed around 2 cups of leafy greens and 1 cup of chopped vegetables per week, were half as likely to get lung cancer than those who ate less servings of these veggies.

To further target-harden your body against lung cancer, you should also begin a regular exercise program of some kind. Based on a 2006 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota, regular activity can reduce the risk of lung cancer for former smokers by 23 percent.

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The forecasted high temperature for tomorrow is 17 degrees where I live. Let me say that again, the forecasted HIGH temperature for tomorrow is 17 degrees. Here in New England, this isn't entirely uncommon for this time of year, but it is certainly a sign that those extra couple of weeks of warm weather we experienced back on October won't be returning any time soon. That also means that we have to be mindful of such known dangers as frostbite and exposure. However, the winter months bring with them an added risk, one that we are not always as quick to take into account.

With our doors and windows closed, most homes have less ventilation than they may during warmer months. As a result, if a home contains high levels of radon, this cancer-causing, airborne gas may get trapped within the walls of your home.

One of the greatest dangers of radon is that it is virtually undetectable; it can't be seen, smelled or tasted. The best way to test your home's radon level is by purchasing a special test kit or by hiring a professional to perform the measurement. Not only is it inexpensive to test for radon, it is also well worth the investment. Each year, more than 21,000 people die from lung cancer related to radon exposure.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/iaq/radon

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Vitamin D got a lot of attention in 2007, and health experts are starting to recommend a daily dose of sunshine for your good health. A recent study found that low sun exposure was linked to a significantly higher risk of lung cancer, leading scientists to believe that vitamin D plays a role in that disease too.

But while vitamin D may someday become part of a treatment or prevention program for lung cancer, health experts say that it can't undo the damages of smoking, and smoking cessation and prevention programs should still be the number one priority in preventing the disease.

You don't have to sunbathe to get enough vitamin D. Only 5-15 minutes exposure on your arms and face is enough to generate your daily quota. So after that, be sure to protect yourself from a burn!

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For those who have lung cancer, a new piece of research suggests that quality of life is single largest predictor of survival. Not drugs, not food -- but quality of life (which can be hard to quantify).

Instead of data like tumor size, development stage or other medical concerns, the actual quality of a cancer patient's life is is utmost concern according to the research. This is very interesting and flies in the face of strictly empirical data concerning cancer patient longevity.

What qualifies as higher "quality of life," you may ask? Being married of having a partner in life was among the highest.

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I'm going to say two things right now about pomegranates; one that will make you want to eat them even more often for their amazing health benefits, and the other that will make you never want to even look at one again.

The tricky part is, which one do I start with? The good or the bad news? Hmmm ... okay, I'll go with the good news first, this way you don't have to finish reading this post and you will still find out that pomegranates have been shown to slow the development of lung tumors. How about that for some good news?

Already known for its role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison have also discovered evidence to suggest that pomegranates may also help prevent lung cancer.

Mice given a tumor-inducing agent had 62-percent fewer lung tumors after five months of pomegranate supplementation than did mice that were not given pomegranate. More research still needs to be done to ascertain if humans would obtain similar results.

Oh great - now onto the other part. I'm loathe to even mention this, I really am. Oh, I know -- I'll use it in the context of Halloween. Let's say you want to serve up a creepy looking snack to your party guests, pomegranates make a great choice. Maybe it's just me, but pomegranate seeds look so much like bloody, human teeth that it makes me want to hurl. A whole bowl full of them would look like something straight out of the movie Saw.

Hey! Don't forget about how healthy they are, though!! And they're very tasty!! Just because something looks like a bloody human mouth ... blech. So freakin' gross.

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According to new research smokers need to be especially conscious of knee pain, as it could be an early indicator of lung cancer. In a small study looking at patients with both knee inflammation and pain, a small percentage (only 2%) were also found to have non-small cell lung cancer. Now that may sound like an extremely small number, but consider this: of that 2% that had both knee pain and cancer all of them were smokers.

Non-small cell lung cancer is very difficult to treat unless it's caught in the early stages, so getting this clue that knee pain could be an indicator could really help save lives.

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As governments continue increasing the tax on tobacco products (and causing their prices to climb), many people are turning to hand-rolled cigarettes as a cheaper way to continue their nicotine habit (this is, in fact, the way I managed to smoke throughout college on a very limited budget).

While, on the one hand, this may seem like a positive trend -- especially considering statistics showing that smokers of hand-rolled cigarettes consume less tobacco -- a newly-released study finds that these smokers actually have a higher risk of developing cancer. Essentially, this is due to the fact that hand-rolled cigarettes are smoked without a filter, and are therefore significantly more carcinogenic.

If smokers continue to substitute hand-rolled cigarettes for the higher-priced manufactured brand they used to smoke, this could be a disturbing trend in the fight against lung cancer.

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In the race to try and combat one of the most deadliest diseases on earth, AIDS, researchers may have found a way to fight another of the most widespread killers -- cancer. Researchers at the US Cancer Institute are looking into how protease inhibitors, which are usually used in the fight against HIV, stack up against some forms of cancer, including lung cancer. Such drugs slow the spread of the HIV virus, and it's thought that they might do the same for cancers.

Of the drugs, the most effective was nelfinavir, alongside other protease inhibitors, ritonavir and saquinavir.

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Sick of dealing with the haze from your office's smoking area? Wish the colleagues you've grown to care about would stop killing themselves with their nicotine addiction? Here's a decorating idea that'd serve as a not-so-subtle hint about the long-term health effects of cigarettes.

Of course, I'm sure this would also lead to resentment and bickering between smokers and non-smokers at your company, so maybe it's not the best idea in the world.

It is, however, very clever, and would certainly get the point across.

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For many, "life on the farm," represents a simpler, healthier life than a less natural, urban existence. But a recent study finds that, in fact, the truth is just the opposite.

Australian researchers found that farm workers have a higher risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) -- a term given to a combination of lung conditions most commonly found in smokers.

No one knows for certain what aspect of farming might cause this correlation, but it isn't the first time the occupation has been linked to lung disease. Farmers have traditionally had a higher rates of asthma and lung cancer, for instance -- both of which may be caused by the inhalation of pesticides and other chemicals used in maintaining crops and livestock. There's also the "agricultural dusts" that farmers inhale. These organic materials from both animal and plant sources are known to cause inflammation in the airways.

It's hoped that with further research, doctors and scientists can understand exactly what's causing these health concerns.

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Are you a regular supplement taker? Although much media attention these days is attacking vitamin and supplement use as detrimental for human health (in certain situations), here's yet another.

New research shows that taking multivitamins containing vitamins C, E or folate does not reduce lung cancer risk. Are some supplement takers trying to prevent lung cancer risk using supplements? Perhaps.

Regardless, are supplements begging to be taken out of your daily regimen based on this research? For me, no.

For more information on preventing or managing cancer, please visit The Cancer Blog.

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