In a small pilot study, researchers from Drexel University and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia tested a culinary medicine program designed specifically for caregivers of children undergoing cancer treatment. The study, recently published in Integrative Cancer Therapies, found that families thought the program was useful and acceptable, despite the significant demands they were already managing during their child's cancer treatment. Overall satisfaction with the intervention was high and engagement was encouraging.

Men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer can generally expect to live for many years after their diagnosis. However, cardiovascular disease and other cancers remain important threats to their long-term health. For many survivors, this raises an important question: What can I do to live a longer, healthier life? A new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that the type and source of dietary fat they consume may make a difference.

The study, co-led by researchers from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (The Institute) and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, included nearly 5,000 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer and followed them for a median of 12.8 years, drawing on data collected over more than three decades. The researchers found that the type and source of fat consumed after diagnosis were associated with long-term survival. Higher saturated fat intake, as well as higher animal fat consumption (a major dietary source of saturated fat), were associated with greater all-cause mortality. These associations were driven primarily by deaths from cardiovascular disease and, to a lesser extent, other cancers—not by prostate cancer itself.

A prospective cohort study quantifying the associations of parental vitamin B12 and red blood cell (RBC) folate with birth defects found that higher parental vitamin B12 before conception and higher maternal RBC folate concentrations after conception were associated with lower birth defect risk.