Behind the Headlines

Breast cancer drugs set for preventative use

Tuesday Jan 15 2013

Almost all of the newspapers and their websites are leading with the news that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published draft guidelines recommending that women with a high risk of familial breast cancer...

Pill-size camera may make cancer diagnosis easier

Monday Jan 14 2013

'Doctors have made a pill-sized device that can take detailed microscopic images of inside the gullet' BBC News explains. It is hoped that this new technology will make diagnosing digestive system cancers easier…

Wrong fat in pregnancy diet 'may make kids fatter'

Friday Jan 11 2013

Pregnant women who eat too much of the ‘wrong’ type of fat are likely to have fatter children' the Daily Mail advises. The advice is based on a UK study that found a link between maternal consumption of omega 6 fatty acids and the child’s weight…

Breast cancer drug studies 'subject to spin'

Thursday Jan 10 2013

The Daily Telegraph reports the alarming news "Breast cancer drug trials 'spun for impact'," saying that trial results are spun to make treatments appear more beneficial than they actually are...

Are 'turbocharged' immune cells key to cancer cure?

Friday Jan 4 2013

"Immune system 'booster' may hit cancer," BBC News reports. The headlines follow Japanese research where stem cells were used to clone and produce large numbers of a specialised type of white blood cell...

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Trojan horse therapy 'can beat cancer'

Friday Dec 21 2012

BBC News reports that an experimental therapy hides "cancer killing viruses inside the immune system in order to sneak them into a tumour" and that this "Trojan-horse therapy 'completely eliminates' cancer in mice"...

Four cups of coffee a day 'halves' mouth cancer risk

Wednesday Dec 12 2012

“Drinking coffee halves the risk of mouth cancer – even in smokers and drinkers,” claims the Daily Mail. This story is based on a large US study that found that adults who reported drinking more than four cups of caffeinated coffee a day...

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Cancer cases rise, but more people survive

Friday Dec 7 2012

New cancer statistics for the UK have hit the headlines, with most papers reporting that fewer people are dying from the disease, despite a rise in the numbers being diagnosed...

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Ten years of tamoxifen ups cancer survival rates

Thursday Dec 6 2012

'Breast cancer deaths halved if patients given "wonder drug" tamoxifen for 10 years, not five,' reports the Daily Mail. This headline is based on a study of the effectiveness...

Smacking link to adult cancers improbable

Tuesday Nov 13 2012

'Smacking or shouting at children boosts their risk of developing cancer, heart disease and asthma, British researchers have claimed' The Sun informs us. The researchers argue that trauma during childhood can cause long-term harmful biological effects…