Bladder cancer is the fourth and eighth most common cancer in men and women in the United States, respectively. Bladder cancer afflicts about 60,000 Americans annually. Bladder cancer is quite common in the U.S., representing about 6 percent of all new cancer cases among men and 2 percent among women.

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Foods and supplements for bladder cancer
Green Tea Extract may interfere with a process that helps early bladder cancer to spread throughout the body. The findings, say researchers, bolster ongoing studies into green tea extract as a cancer treatment -- and may give green tea drinkers more reason to savor every cup. The investigators found that when they exposed human bladder cells to both a cancer-causing chemical and green tea extract, the extract interfered with a particular process by which early cancer cells become invasive and spread throughout body tissue. This process involves the "remodeling" of actin, a structural protein in cells that is essential for cell movement. Actin remodeling allows cancer cells to move and invade nearby healthy tissue. Based on the new findings, green tea extract may get in the way of this process by activating a protein known as Rho, which helps regulate actin's organization in cells and has been implicated in tumor development and progression.
   Eating broccoli may help prevent or slow the spread of bladder cancer. Working in the laboratory, U.S. researchers found that certain compounds in broccoli appear to interfere with bladder cancer cells -- especially aggressive cells that tend to spread quickly around the body. These results are very preliminary, and it's too early to determine, for instance, how much broccoli people need to eat to get this benefit. Previous research has shown that men who eat broccoli regularly are less likely to develop bladder cancer, which kills more than 13,000 Americans each year. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables contain substances that morph into isothiocyanates, which research suggests may fight cancer. Glucosinolates in broccoli -- when chopped, chewed and digested -- turn into compounds called isothiocyanates that are believed to help fight bladder cancer. Whether a Broccoli Sprouts supplement helps with bladder cancer is not known at this time.
   More research in May 2007 -  Substances found in cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, may help protect people from bladder cancer. People who consumed the most of these substances, called isothiocyanates (ITCs), had a lower risk of the disease than those who consumed the least. Studies in animals have found ITCs prevent tumor growth, while epidemiological studies suggest they may lower lung and colon cancer risk. International Journal of Cancer, May 15, 2007.

Cruciferous vegetables reduce bladder cancer risk
Consumin raw, but not cooked, cruciferous vegetables reduces the risk for development of bladder cancer. Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, have high levels of isothiocyanates (ITCs), which are cancer prevention agents especially promising in bladder cancer prevention.

Mistletoe extract may treat bladder cancer
After surgery for superficial bladder cancer, treatment with a mistletoe extract appears to be effective at reducing tumor recurrence. Mistletoe extracts have been shown to act favorably on proteins that affect cancer and have been widely used for many years as alternative therapy in patients with malignancies. In the current study, 30 patients with superficial bladder carcinoma received six weekly instillations of a standardized water-based mistletoe extract beginning about 4 weeks after surgery. The treatment was well tolerated at all concentrations and there were no reports of side effects. At 12 months, nine tumors had recurred. In the 24 patients with so-called pTa G2 and pT1 G2 tumors, the recurrence rate was 33 percent, comparable to the recurrence rate in similar historical controls treated with BCG, the investigators point out.

Bladder cancer symptom
The symptoms for bladder cancer are not specific. Many other diseases, including inflammatory conditions, involving the bladder and kidney may cause similar symptoms. However, early detection is important in curing bladder cancer. The most common first symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine called hematuria. Hematuria is either visible or microscopic. Gross hematuria describes urine that appears red or brown and can be seen with the naked eye. Microscopic hematuria means the red blood cells are visible if a urine sample is examined under a microscope. Other symptoms and signs of of bladder cancer include pain and burning on urination, a sense of incomplete emptying of the bladder after urination and having to urinate more frequently or at shorter intervals. These symptoms could also indicate problems (less serious) other than bladder cancer such as an infection.

Bladder Cancer Urine test
A urine test can detect bladder cancer early and may be especially useful for smokers and others prone to the disease. The test for the enzyme telomerase in urine was found to be accurate 90 percent of the time in men, after the cancer diagnoses were confirmed with standard invasive examinations of the bladder and urinary tract. The test also detected the disease in early stages.

Cause of Bladder Cancer
Marijuana has been shown to potentially cause bladder cancer if used in high doses on a regular basis. Studies have found higher bladder cancer rates among people in various occupations, including hairdressers, textile workers, truck drivers and workers in the rubber, leather and chemical industries. It's thought that long-term chemical exposures are to blame. Chlorinated water exposure through drinking, swimming pools or baths can increase the risk for bladder cancer.
   When bladder cancer occurs in patients previously diagnosed with prostate cancer, it tends to be of higher grade among patients who were treated with radiation compared to those not treated with radiation.
   EU regulators said in July 2006 they would ban 22 substances from use in hair dyes in the European Union. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) said at the end of 2002 that there was epidemiological evidence indicating that the regular and long-term use of hair dyes by women may be associated with the development of bladder cancer. The SCCP called for an overall safety assessment strategy for hair dyes including testing hair dye cosmetic ingredients for their potential genotoxicity or mutagenicity. The European Commission therefore asked hair dye producers to prove the substances they used did not pose bladder cancer risk or other health risk and the industry submitted such safety files on 115 substances in use. The ban by the Commission, the EU's executive, concerns 22 hair dye substances for which industry has not submitted any safety files.
   Gonorrhea, a common sexually transmitted infection, can increase the risk of bladder cancer in men.
   Women who are relatively young when they go through menopause seem to be at increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

Bladder Cancer, Smoking, and Hormones
Menopausal status as well as age at menopause may modify the risk of women developing bladder cancer. The risk in men is greater than that in women. Hormonal factors may be involved because gender differences in cigarette smoking patterns, occupational exposures and other differences in known risk factor distributions cannot explain the excess bladder cancer observed for males. There is a significant increase in bladder cancer risk with earlier menopause (age 45 years or less) compared with later menopause (age 50 years or more). The drop in estrogen levels with menopause has been associated with bladder dysfunction and frequent urinary tract infections. It may be that women who experience early menopause are at an increased risk of bladder cancer because they have recurrent urinary tract infections and concurrent inflammation starting at an earlier age. Because inflammation and cigarette smoking are likely to act together to increase risk, this hypothesis would also explain the strong interaction with smoking. Source: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 1, 2006.