Tessa can sway brain cancer manifesto

THIS week in The Mail on Sunday you can read my guide to cutting your risk of the two most common cancers, of the breast and prostate.

But sadly, when it comes to relatively rare forms of the disease such as brain cancer – which Labour peer Dame Tessa Jowell revealed she was battling last week – the risk factors and causes are far less clear-cut.

In five per cent of cases, there’s thought to be a genetic link, but really there are so many unknowns. Brain cancer covers a whole range of tumour types, from the slow-growing which require little intervention, to the aggressive and fatal.

As with pancreatic cancer, little progress has been made in reducing the death rate.

Tessa announced it via her daughter-in-law ‘Deliciously’ Ella Woodward’s social media accounts on her 70th birthday – but didn’t reveal which kind she had. Tessa’s an influential figure and perhaps her diagnosis will highlight how much more research (and funding for it) is needed into these tumours.

DON’T die of embarrassment – or let your partner die of embarrassment – was the message last week after a survey from charity the Eve Appeal found that many men can’t talk to their partners about intimate matters. More than 21,000 women each year are diagnosed with a gynaecological cancer, yet half of men surveyed said they would not be comfortable discussing these issues with a female partner. It’s crucial that none of us ignore so-called embarrassing ailments and discuss any bodily changes we see in ourselves, or our other half. All too often, these are the ones that need to be discussed early and investigated.

BARELY a week goes by without yet more confusing health advice about pregnancy – usually relating to alcohol. One new analysis suggests the risk from levels is small, yet you should probably avoid it anyway. As one of my patients pointed out, that’s exactly what she’d already been told. This constant flurry of advice only fuels anxiety and confusion.