That's Fit

There's nothing glamorous about colorectal cancer, says Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams. It's the second leading cancer killer in the United States, for goodness sake, which makes it a pretty unattractive disease. There is an upside to this cancer, though: More people are surviving it than ever before.

Check out this video clip, a public service announcement featuring Williams and these important tips.

• Colorectal cancer is treatable and preventable.
  

• You should begin screening for colorectal cancer beginning at age 50 and even earlier if you have a family history of the disease.
  

• Screening can detect this cancer when it's highly curable.
  

• Screening can lead to the removal of polyps before they become cancerous.
  

• New treatments are allowing people with advanced disease to live long, productive lives.
  
  

Talk to your doctor about getting screened if you are nearing that 50 mark. Family history may dictate you have a chat even sooner. And as a supplement -- not an alternative -- to your own cancer screenings, take this AOL Are You Avoiding Cancer? quiz.

"I'm tired of Candy. I'm tired of Gum. I want burgers. Spaghetti..." That's what I remember Chow Daddy singing in his Public Service Announcements when I was a kid. Granted, Chow Daddy looked like he could have very well been an escaped convict wearing a partial lion's costume and singing about the importance of eating healthy, but hey, why dwell on the details? Anyway, years later, I can't help but laugh at the fact that (some) candy and gum is actually considered GOOD for you.

In fact, a study in Sweden less than a year ago took a closer look at Xylitol, a sugar substitute used in many sugarless sweets, finding that it may help battle against tooth decay. Following 128 children aged 7 through 12, the researchers found that subjects who were were asked to chew Xylitol enhanced gum three times per day for four weeks exhibited a smaller proportion of decay-producing bacteria than before they started the study.

I wonder if these findings would make Chow Daddy change his tune. Come to think of it, I wonder where the heck Chow Daddy could even be these days. I mean, where do 1980s PSA mascots go after they've peaked?

A recent study suggests that men who take the popular hair-loss drug, Propecia, may be at greater risk for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is detected by a test called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Propecia can alter the results of this test -- reducing the PSA values by up to 50%. "So a man in his 50s, taking this lifestyle drug, might get a result of 2, when it's really a 4, which is more alarming," says Claus Roehrborn, a urologic oncologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and an author of the study.

In addition, taking the drug could lead to unnecessary biopsies, as doctors will often watch for a dramatic rise in PSA values from one test to the next -- with big jumps indicating the need for further testing. A man taking Propecia during his first test would have artificially low readings, so, in the event that he stopped taking the drug, his next test would falsely show a dramatic increase, leading to needless additional procedures.

The researchers recommend that, to be safe, those taking Propecia should double their tested PSA values.