What are the benefits of breastfeeding, screening tests and chelation therapy?

I continue to be pounded on the inpatient service. We are having a lot more turn over this month than I remember from years past, so it feels a lot like a cardiology service. (I had better watch out, I am only a few steps away from saying something like "Back when *I* was a resident…" and then going on to name how atrocious my work hours, responsibilities and other sundry tasks were.) I don't feel overworked, but sometimes it is hard to meet and say goodbye to so many people over such a short span of time. Part of what I like most about oncology is the relationships you build with patients over a long(er) period of time. This does not feel that way.

Here are some bloggy good tidbits from the web:

We already know that breastfeeding your children is good for the mother, but some new data suggests that if you were breastfed, your risk of breast cancer may be lower (read that twice, it's confusing). Mechanism is not at all clear to me, but makes me feel really good about nursing my children.

Lay press summary here: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSKEN96096220080512.

Here is a heated discussion about whether or not we are curing people by detecting cancer with screening tests. Definitely read the comments on that one, they are quite heated. I struggle with people who believe that cancer is not real or that I have some ulterior motive in prescribing or recommending chemotherapy. This blog entry gets into that somewhat in the comments.

Along a similar theme, recent commentaries on Medscape (subscription required) have been released about a National Institutes of Health study investigating chelation therapy, called the TACT trial. This study was not aimed at cancer treatment, but I certainly have patients with cancer ask me about chelation frequently. I too am a bit upset that the NIH would invest $30 million into a study of, at best, a questionable medical intervention. The claims in the link above that this was a politically motivated move are a bit disturbing, though I am not ready to convict the NIH yet. It all is quite unsettling, however.