More on coffee -- a topic of panel discussion at the recent Experimental Biology 2007 meeting in Washington, DC, and subject of nearly 400 studies investigating consumption and cancer risk.

Think about this:

No one claims coffee is the new health food. And non-coffee drinkers are not encouraged to drink the beverage for their health. Yet the beverage is certainly losing some of its negative health image.

But is it enough?

Some say coffee protects against colon, rectal, and liver cancers (diabetes too). These same people recognize it also can increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer. Those at risk, like pregnant women and children, should limit their consumption.

Like many connections between cancer and diet, there just isn't enough research to tell a whole story. We can only take what's available and make our own educated decisions about our own individual lives.

What decision will you make about coffee?

It only takes two bottles of wine consumed over the course of one weekend to more than double the risk of breast cancer, according to a Danish study of 17,647 women which breaks down like this: women who drank 22-27 drinks per week had twice the risk for the disease compared to those who drank only one to three drinks.

Think about this:

More than a quarter of participants, age 44 and older, drank more than the recommended 14 drinks per week. One in 10 were binge drinkers -- they had more than four drinks per day. Thirteen percent were weekend bingers -- they had more than 10 drinks between Friday and Sunday. A drink is considered one bottle of beer, wine, or spirit. In Denmark, each unit translate into 12g of alcohol.

Published in the European Journal of Public Health, this study found breast cancer risk is greatest when drinks are consumed in a short period of time. This is because the concentration of alcohol in the blood peaks, making it more harmful to the body.

"What our study suggests is that the total amount of alcohol consumed has a detrimental effect on the risk of breast cancer, but also the drinking pattern seems to have an impact," says lead researcher Dr. Lina Morch.

The bottom line: to reduce the risk of breast cancer, women must limit the amount of alcohol they drink.

There's no mystery about how we might help prevent cancer. In fact, we don't even need to venture out of our own minds to figure it all out.

Consider this.

"We estimate that more than 50 percent of cancer incidence could be prevented if we act today on what we already know," says Graham Colditz, M.D., Dr.P.H., and associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

And now consider these seven methods for acting on what we already know about cancer prevention.

One. Lose weight and exercise more. It is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the most common cancers in the United States are directly attributed to being overweight or physically inactive.

Two. Eat right. Plant-based diets help prevent cancer. Eating fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer. Diets high in red meat and animal fat increase the risk of cancer. End of story.

Three. Quit smoking. We all know smoking is associated with lung cancer, but it's also linked to cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach. Within five years to 10 years, there is a 50 percent reduction in cancer risk for those who stop smoking.

Four. Limit alcohol intake. While a few studies claim there are health benefits to drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages, most data show overconsumption of alcohol increases the risk of oral, esophageal, and breast cancers.

Five. Increase folate intake. Epidemiological studies suggest that low folate levels promote cancer development. Experts recommend taking a multivitamin with folate every day.

Six. Stay in the shade. Limiting long-term exposure to the sun and tanning beds, booths, and lamps minimizes the risk of developing skin cancer.

Seven. Avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical cancer. Hepatitis B and C viruses can cause liver cancer. Helicobacter pylori causes stomach cancer. It's critical that we protect ourselves during sexual contact if we wish to protect ourselves from cancer.

Secondhand smoke rears its ugly head once again -- this time in the form of study results revealing high levels of secondhand smoke in the workplace can double the risk of lung cancer for non-smokers.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago looked at results from 22 studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, and China. What they found -- and published in the American Journal of Public Health -- is a lung cancer risk 50 percent higher than normal for non-smokers exposed to smoke on the job for more than 30 years. They also found risk increases with level of exposure.

"We believe that our study provides the strongest evidence to date that smoking in the workplace does present a substantial risk to workers -- and particularly to workers who are working in highly exposed areas such as bar workers or restaurant workers," lead researcher Leslie Stayner said.

Previous evidence for increased lung cancer risk caused by secondhand smoke comes from studies of non-smokers married to smokers.

Secondhand smoke -- also known as passive smoke and environmental tobacco smoke -- is smoke from a cigarette, pipe, or cigar as well as smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers and inhaled by non-smokers. It can cause cancer, respiratory problems, and asthma in non-smokers and is leading to increased efforts by communities to ban or limit smoking in the workplace.

This week in France, bans begin in offices, stores, schools, and hospitals. Come January 2008, cafes and restaurants must also comply with bans. For now, smoking in these areas is permitted in hermetically sealed rooms without any services.

You're in luck if you like fruit, vegetables, and milk -- because Italian researchers say these items appear to reduce the likelihood of developing liver cancer.

Diet plays a significant role in the risk of liver cancer, says the lead researcher of this study who singles out fruits and vegetables as the foods with the most protective effect.

Subjects of this study -- published in the International Journal of Cancer -- were 185 patients with liver cancer and a comparison group of 412 controls without cancer. Participants responded to questions about diet, and their answers showed that as intake of certain foods went up, the risk of liver cancer went down. Factoring out other issues possibly contributing to this indication, researchers found that high intake of milk and yogurt cut the risk of developing liver cancer by 78 percent. High consumption of white meat lowered the risk by 56 percent, and when combined with high intake of fruit, this number dropped to 52 percent.

These finding are particularly important for patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C (HCV) infection. But overall, experts say anyone wishing to ward off liver cancer should adopt a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, limit alcohol consumption, and avoid HCV infection by practicing safe sex and never sharing needles.

Sometimes drinking alcohol is healthy. And sometimes drinking alcohol is harmful. Studies show that one drink per day -- compared with no drinking at all -- can reduce a woman's risk for heart disease and stroke by 50 percent. And other research indicates that older women who drink moderately have better cognitive skills. But there are also downsides for women who drink even moderate amounts of alcohol.

Even as little as one-half drink per day increases the risk of breast cancer -- possibly because alcohol raises estrogen blood levels which can promote growth of breast tumors. Women are also more likely than men to become dependent on alcohol and to experience other consequences too -- including damage to the brain and other organs. One in 13 adults in the United States has a serious alcohol problem -- and at least six million of these adults are women. And because the risk for alcohol-related health issues increase with age, older women should be especially careful of their alcohol intake for the purpose of maintaining health and limiting the odds of a breast cancer diagnosis.

In the interest of balancing the healthful and harmful effects of alcohol, The Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests that women over the age of 65 limit themselves to one drink per day. Or less.

When it comes to reducing sun exposure cancer risks, the information all gets a little confusing and seemingly contradictory in nature. We are told repeatedly to stay out of the sun, as this is the single greatest risk to the development of skin cancer. Campaigns are launched all summer long about the benefit of shade, of avoiding the sun, and the media makes headlines out of it in an attempt to raise awareness.

So if we are all doing what we are supposed to in reducing skin cancer risks by avoiding the sun, what do we make of the new study supporting University of California research that solar ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation reduces the risk of 16 types of cancer? UVB rays are what promotes the body's manufacture of the essential vitamin D that acts as a prevention to cancer risk.

According to study authors Cedric Garland and William Grant, "Enhancing vitamin D status appears to be the single most important simple thing people can do to reduce their risk of cancer, apart from avoiding tobacco and moderation in the intake of alcohol."

It might be a matter of practical common sense that moderation is the key. In the summer, researchers estimate it only takes 20 minutes of skin exposure to the sun to achieve the optimum levels of vitamin D derived from UVB rays. For darker skin, it can require over an hour to reach the same benefit. After that amount of time, it has no additional benefit. In addition, vitamin D supplements can supply a person's daily need for vitamin D.

So shade, sunscreen and covering up are still the best bets in skin cancer prevention. However, without sun exposure, the body is at risk for low levels of vitamin D, and the lack of vitamin D is linked to an increase in 16 different cancers.

I received a comment today on my Sunday Seven post about how inspiring sentiments help me survive. The comment was from a women who is surviving lung cancer and she asked a question to all readers really -- when will the fear of recurrence ever go away? How do you out there deal with it? So I replied to her private e-mail address and shared my thoughts about fear and recurrence and how I deal with these issues as a cancer survivor. She replied and wrote, your e-mail was so uplifting. I think I just found you on a really bad day and I am thankful that I did. And so I realized that maybe I should not limit my thoughts to just one person when others are surely in her same boat -- my same boat. So here is what I wrote to this one reader who -- like so many others on my journey -- has helped me by allowing me the chance to help her.

Just want to say that I think you are already dealing with the fear-of-recurrence thing because you have been surviving for as long as you have been traveling this bumpy road. So while you survive, you just need to live each day like it's your last and fight for your life at the same time. Someone once told me to think of cancer as a chronic condition -- something we will live with for the rest of your lives. And we just keep treating it, wherever it pops up. And the longer we survive, the more resources there are to help us survive even longer. As for getting through each day, I recommend counseling (I go once per month but at one time I went each week). I also take an anti-depressant (Zoloft) which I do not push on anyone, but for me, it has helped. I went to my oncologist one day and asked him how to live peacefully without worrying constantly that cancer is coming back to haunt me -- he said many cancer patients take anti-depressants to take the edge off so I began the drug and began counseling too. Neither completely take away the fear -- but they help me manage and that's all I can ask for. I also have two little boys who keep me busy and distracted from feeling sorry for myself. And I try to keep busy in other ways too. Helping others with cancer -- or others who just need help -- is healthy too!

Helping others with cancer does help me. It reminds me that I am not alone and that others have fears like me and that collectively, we can all survive better if we lean on one another and borrow from one another and inspire one another.

In an effort to fight childhood obesity, the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association have joined to form the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to establish new guidelines to limit portion sizes and reduce the number of calories available to children during the school day. Working with representatives of Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and the American Beverage Association -- the country's largest beverage distributors -- under the new agreement, only lower calorie and nutritious beverages will be sold to schools.

"If an 8-year-old child consumes 45 fewer calories a day every day for a decade, when he or she graduates from high school that child will weigh 20 pounds less," says former President Bill Clinton. Obesity is known to increase the risks of developing some cancers, as well as heart disease and diabetes. This agreement will affect 35 million public school kids nationwide, where studies indicate nine million kids are currently overweight.

According to the initiative, these science-based guidelines are just one part of a plan to help kids live healthier lives by decreasing excess calories consumed while increasing calories burned. The guidelines limit the number of calories in beverages to 100 calories per container, except for certain milks and juices whose nutritional value justifies the higher number of calories.