December 20, 1995
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EST
From Medical Correspondent Jeff Levine
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Many people think using moist snuff is safer than smoking cigarettes. But a new study indicates the opposite is true.
In the current Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the researchers write that the three top-selling brands of snuff, Copenhagen, Skoal and Kodiak, also have the highest levels of cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines. Snuff users get up to twice as much of these chemicals as those who puff 20 cigarettes a day.
A spokesman for the Smokeless Tobacco Council disputes the study, claiming the link between nitrosamines in snuff and cancer has not been proven.
The authors note that during the past 15 years the nitrosamine levels in the two leading snuff brands have been reduced by 70 percent. But they said it's possible to reduce them further.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The world's best-selling prescription drug soon will take its place on drug store shelves in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a nonprescription form of the ulcer medicine for over-the-counter sale, said Glaxo Wellcome, the drug's manufacturer.
The new drug, called Zantac 75, will be available in early 1996. It joins the similar new drugs Pepcid and Tagamet in the $1 billion antacid market. But, unlike those two drugs, Mantic 75 is approved only to treat heartburn, not prevent it.
From Medical Correspondent Rhonda Rowland
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association shows that middle-age men with high blood pressure can have reduced cognitive functions in later life. Functions that can be affected include memory, calculation ability, simple communication abilities, and mental functioning.
Researchers believe elevated blood pressure affects the brain's blood vessels.
They followed about 3,700 Japanese-American men for some three decades in the long-running Honolulu Heart Program and found that for every increase of 10 points in systolic blood pressure, there was a 9 percent increase in the risk the patient would encounter cognitive problems.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Breast cancer rates are higher in the northeastern part of the country and are lowest in the South. A new study by the National Cancer Institute says this regional variation in U.S. cancer rates derives from known risk factors, not from mysterious environmental hazards.
Researchers in the study, published in the Wednesday's edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, using 1987 data, found that most of the differences stem from such known risk or prognostic factors as family history, age at first childbirth ,and scheduled mammograms. For example, women in the Northeast tend to have their first child later than women in the South.
Although the study does not rule out dietary factors in the regions, it strongly suggests that there are no unknown causes in the variations.
Researchers say that the findings should alleviate fears that unknown environmental hazards are the causes of breast cancer in the Northeast.
BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- A study by the Johns Hopkins University says that cutting back on caffeine may help women get pregnant.
The study found that women who consume more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day reduce their monthly chance of conception by 26 percent. There was no effect in women who consumed less than 300 milligrams.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins say that a couples already have a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant each month. High doses of caffeine reduces that percentage by nearly 15 percent.
The study, published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, used data from interviews with 1,430 women conducted in 1989 and 1990. It involved 2,000 pregnancies that occurred between 1980 and 1990.
Of the women who neither smoked nor consumed large amounts of caffeine, about 8 percent took a year or more to conceive. Of the women who consumed more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day, 19 percent took that amount of time to conceive.
Smokers, regardless of their caffeine intake, were found to be 15 to 20 percent less likely to become pregnant in a given month than nonsmokers.
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