Healthy Health Habits, Aspirin vs. Breast Cancer & Breast Feeding On The Rise

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7:00am Segment Info:
It's never too late to practice healthy habits, even if you have cancer.

A new study from the American Cancer Society finds cancer survivors who practice healthy habits like staying away from tobacco, eating more fruits and vegetables, and getting some exercise have a higher health-related quality of life than those who don't. The study also finds that while many cancer survivors cut back on smoking... Few are eating properly or exercising enough.

Which healthy habit had the strongest impact on quality of life?

MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

Exercise. You just can't get away from it. Study after study shows that exercise is the best thing you can do for your body and mind, yet so few people do it. Additionally researchers say the effects of these healthy habits are cumulative - meaning the more of these good things that you do like eating better, being active, and not smoking, the more powerful the impact on quality of life.

In other news, aspirin continues to be a wonder drug.

That's right. A new study finds a daily dose of aspirin can help lower a woman's risk for the most common type of breast cancer.

Researchers say post-menopausal women who took an aspirin a day reduced their risk of estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer by 16%. 3/4 of breast cancers are e-r positive. It's believed that aspirin works by interfering with estrogen's behavior.

8:00am Segment Info:
More women are breast feeding these days..

A new study finds about 77% of new mothers breast-feed, at least briefly. That's up from from 60% in 1993-94. The percentage of black infants who were breast-fed rose most dramatically, to 65%. That's up from 36%. Today more than three out of four new moms breast-feed their infants, the highest rate in the u.s. in at least 20 years

You're always saying "breast is best". What's the reason for the increase?

Better education. Experts credit the rise to campaigns that promote the health aspects of nursing. These campaigns emphasize that breast milk is better than formula at protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity, but there's still more work to do. The latest cdc report found rates of breast-feeding were also lowest among women who are unmarried, poor, and younger than 20 and who have a high school education or less.

In other news, kids who live in the suburbs may have an edge over city kids.

At least when it comes to asthma. There have been lots of studies linking asthma to pollution.. But now a new study found a direct correlation between the incidence of asthma and the density of trees in the area.

It turns out that children who live in streets lined with trees are less likely to develop asthma. They say trees may help prevent the condition either by improving air quality in traffic-choked streets or by encouraging children to play outside.

Don't trees produce pollen and therefore "trigger" asthma?

It's true that certain allergens.. Like tree pollen can trigger asthma attacks. But that's in people who already have asthma. This study looked at the incidence of asthma among three and four year olds. So in this case, there were less children in the suburbs with asthma in the first place.