Michael Douglas suffers throat cancer

On Tuesday night, Michael Douglas, a well-known American movie star and film producer, revealed on David Letterman's "Late Show" that he was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer

early this summer and has been receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy for a week.

Mr. Douglas suspected something's wrong when he felt a sore throat that did not go away. But it took a few months for Michael Douglas's doctors to finally diagnose the disease, which understandably made Douglas's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, an award winning actress, mad.

Douglas told Letterman's audience that his doctors told me his survival rate is 80 percent even though the prognosis is generally poor for a stage 4 throat cancer, which can be any of a few head and neck cancers including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx.

It remains unknown what type of throat cancer Mr. Douglas suffered. But he was cited as saying that the malignancy was caused by smoking and drinking, which is a major known risk factor for throat cancer.

Many lifestyle parameters can affect a person's risk of throat cancer. A few studies are cited below for those food consumers who may wonder if eating certain foods or diet would modify the risk. Evidence is strong that dietary pasterns and certain foods were associated with throat cancer risk.

One study led by De Stefani E. and colleagues from Universidad de Clínicas, Facultad de Medicina in Montevideo, Uruguay and published in March 2009 in International Journal of Cancer suggests that the prudent diet was negatively associated with cancers of upper aerodigestive tract including throat cancer.

Another case-control study 800 patients with confirmed cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx led by Garavello W. and colleagues from Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy found that diversity within vegetables and fruits were associated with 38 and 33 percent reduced risk of the oral and pharyngeal cancer, respectively.

Sapkota A. and colleague of International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France found that consumption of dairy products was negatively associated with cancers of larynx and the esophagus while consumption of yellow/orange vegetables was inversely linked with oral/pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer.

Preserved vegetables on the other hands were associated with increased risk of oral/pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer.

The study was published in the Dec 2008 issue of Cancer Causes and Control.

Foods that may help cut the risk of throat cancer include allium vegetables like onions and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, according to early studies. But overall, fruits and vegetables are important foods that people can eat to reduce the risk.