United Supermarkets Teams with Tech on Cancer Prevention Project

An area supermarket has teamed with Texas Tech to provide a grant for cancer prevention in rural communities.

Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and United Supermarkets have announced a public-private partnership, which will be used to target cancer prevention and recurrence rates in one particular rural community for a start.

The project is funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, and will run through February 2013. Their goal is to prevent cancer and recurrences in Muleshoe. The group says that if this particular project is successful, the intervention program could be replicated in other rural communities across the state.

According to their press release, the project’s main goal is to address preventable sources of cancer, such as obesity, tobacco use, and sunburn. Participants will be randomly selected and evaluated through multiple body mass index, blood pressure levels, food records, and tobacco product usage.

United Supermarkets in the area will help expose participants in the program to cancer prevention educational materials, which emphasize cancer-preventing foods.

“Texas Tech Professor Conrad Lyford said “There appears to be little difference in the cancer incidence and mortality rates of rural and urban populations, however evidence suggests that cancer tends to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage among rural populations.”

“Rural areas often have limited services available to foster the prevention of cancer, and this project implements and tests the effectiveness of an accessible program designed to reduce cancer risks,” Lyford continued.