There is some seriously risky business being reported in July. Meal times, diabetes, and bitter-taste sensitivity are all now being linked to a higher risk of cancer. Not to mention what researchers say the risks of complementary medicines might be.

There was another significant risk factor recently revealed, says dailymail.co.uk. A study of 20 million people conducted by Oxford University found that having diabetes increases your risk of cancer. Women with diabetes were 27 percent more likely to develop cancer and men were 19 percent more likely. The study, which included both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, showed that women with diabetes were more likely to develop leukemia and kidney, oral and stomach cancers. The men had a higher risk for developing liver cancer. Diabetes also puts people at risk for heart attacks, strokes, and dementia. You can read more about the findings and diabetes risks here.

Still another new cancer risk factor for women was reported by sciencedaily.com. It was discovered that women who have a high sensitivity to bitter taste also have a high cancer risk. The study tracked the diet, lifestyle, and health of 5,500 British women for 20 years. The women were divided into three categories of bitter sensitivity: super-tasters, tasters and non-tasters. The super-tasters had a 58 percent greater risk and the tasters had a 40 percent greater risk of developing cancer than the non-tasters. Researchers hypothesized that lower vegetable consumption would be a cause for the significant increase in cancer risk for the tasters and super-tasters, but their theory was not proved by the research. Researchers continue to suspect a relationship between diet and cancer risk and hope to further study the overall diet of the tasters and super-tasters to try to determine the connection. More details about the study can be found here.

Alternative medicine may not put you at risk for cancer, but it may increase your risk of dying from it, reports nbcnews.com. A study done by the Yale Cancer Center found that treatments commonly referred to as complementary medicine, including the use of herbs and homeopathy, aren’t harmful when used with standard, conventional cancer treatments, but if the complementary treatments are used instead of the conventional treatments, patients are twice as likely to die from their cancer. The patients who were most likely to use the alternative treatments were young, affluent women and the researchers noted that doctors should use the information from the study to make sure they are meeting the needs of their patients who may turn down standard treatment in favor of alternative treatments. Researchers also acknowledged that alternative treatments such as yoga, acupuncture, and meditation can help to improve a patients quality of life and if they make the patient feel better they should be encouraged to use complementary medicine in addition to conventional treatments. You can read more here.

Make sure you aren’t at risk of missing out on the latest and most compelling cancer-related information. You can find it all here at powerfulpatients.org.

Jennifer Lessinger

Jennifer Lessinger is a professional writer and editor who learned the value of patient empowerment during her struggle with a hard-to-diagnose and complex endocrine disorder.