Italian women who eat pasta rather than bread get less breast cancer

Why?  Who knows?  Perhaps pasta eating is more common in rural areas and rural areas are healthier than cities

A simple switch from sandwiches to pasta could help cut the risk of breast cancer.

A diet rich in bread after the menopause can raise the risk of developing the disease by 60 per cent, warned researchers.

However, the chances dropped among older women who relied more on pasta.

The study also found that at any age, being overweight while eating a lot of bread raised the risk by nearly half.

Academics at the Universities of Toronto and Milan studied more than 11,000 Italians of all ages.

Around 4,500 had either breast or colo-rectal cancer while the remaining 6,700 were used as a comparison group.

The report found the risk of a diagnosis fluctuated according to whether pasta or bread was a staple in the diet – but only for women.

For breast cancer, the researchers said a bread-rich diet for women aged 55 to 64 increased their chances by 60 per cent.

For women across the age groups who were overweight, the risk soared by 45 per cent.

But for those with a large pasta intake, there was no marked increase, said the researchers, who also worked with the World Health Organisation.

For colo-rectal cancer, high bread consumption doubled the threat for women while for men, it rose 22 per cent.

The study in the Annals of Oncology suggests that bread promotes high levels of the female hormone oestrogen – a known risk factor for breast cancer – because of its high GI (Glycaemic Index) rating.

Pasta is at the opposite end of the scale measuring the effect of carbohydrate-rich foods on blood-sugar levels.

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Divorce can be deadly: Separated or single people more likely to die in preventable accidents than married counterparts

It's official, marriage is good for your health. A new study of over 1million people has found that divorced people are more than twice as likely to succumb to an avoidable mishap than their hitched counterparts.

The Social Side of Accidental Death study looked at the links between social relationships, socio-economic status and how long and well people live.

Researchers say a spouse can provide support and encourage their other half to avoid unnecessary risks - and help out in an emergency.

And just being single can shorten a lifespan as singletons are twice as likely to die in accidents as their married counterparts.

Sociologists at Rice University and the University of Pennsylvania found that people who are divorced are more than twice as likely to die from fire, poisoning and smoke inhalation, which the World Health Organisation cites as the most-preventable causes of accidental death.

The study, which compared 1,302,090 adults aged 18 and above who survived or died from accidents between 1986 and 2006, also found that divorced people were equally likely to die from the least-preventable causes of accidental death such as air and water transport accidents.

It was also revealed that single people, as well as those with lower education, are more at risk of accidental death.

Justin Denney, the study's lead author concluded that if relationships and socio-economic resources extend life, then they should play a more important role in situations where death can reasonably be avoided.

Speaking about the results, Denney said: 'Well-educated individuals, on average, have greater socio-economic resources, which can be used to their advantage to prevent accidental death (i.e., safeguarding a home from fire).

'In addition, these individuals tend to be more knowledgeable about practices that may harm their health, such as excessive alcohol and drug use.

'And marital status is influential in that it can provide positive support, may discourage a partner's risk and offer immediate support that saves lives in the event of an emergency.'

Denney hopes that this new research will lead to more research on how accidental death can be avoided.

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