Prevention is better than cure – How to Improve Your Lifestyle to Prevent Cancer
Prevention is better than cure – How to Improve Your Lifestyle to Prevent Cancer
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Home Page > Health > Cancer > Prevention is better than cure – How to Improve Your Lifestyle to Prevent Cancer
Prevention is better than cure – How to Improve Your Lifestyle to Prevent Cancer
Posted: Sep 05, 2010 |Comments: 0
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Prevention is better than cure.
The report proves that cancer prevention is not as difficult as many may believe.
Research shows that a large percentage of cancer-related deaths may be – are directly linked to lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, and a lack of exercise. But the majority of the reason is, due to an unhealthy diet.
The research shows that only 5-10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90-95% of all cancers is due to identified factors, and thus are potentially preventable.
30% are due to tobacco use, and as much as 35- 50% are due to foods (fried foods, red meat). About 15-20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc.
How Cancer starts:
There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected.
Our bodies are made up of millions of living cells, grouped together to form tissues and organs such as muscles and bones, the lungs, Heart, liver, colon and so on.
The structure and function of each one of the cells in the human body is like a tiny factory providing essential, life-sustaining support.
In normal healthy adult organs cells have a genetic code of conduct (known as DNA), which dictates when they divide, grow, maintain or perform their specific jobs.
Normally, our cells obey these orders and we remain healthy. But sometimes Due to the interference of some oxidized complex chemicals (known as free radicals), the instructions get mixed up, the normal cells lose their code of conduct and this imbalance eventually leads to an overgrowth of a mass of abnormal cells.
As a result cancer begins to form.
Cancer cells accumulate and compete for nutrients, space, and territory with normal healthy cells. Start stealing food from normal cells and feed the abnormal cells which have no function.
Therefore the healthy cells start dying and Cause damage in the organs.
Carcinogens are substances that promote the development of cancerous cells. They may come from foods, from the air, or even from within the body.
When the person’s immune system is strong most carcinogens are neutralized before damage can occur.
Some vitamins, minerals and photochemical in plant foods are known to be Antioxidant, could interact in ways that boost the immune system in their individual anti-cancer effects.
In many cases, healthy living reduces the risk of cancer by reducing our exposure to things that damage DNA. These include:
Cigarette
Cigarette smoke contains 4000 chemicals, out of which 250 known harmful chemicals and more than 50 have been found to cause cancer in lung, esophagus, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix.
Alcohol
Drinking Alcohol can initiate cancer by damaging the cells of the sensitive tissues of the upper-respiratory tract and liver.
Choose not to drink alcohol, or choose to drink them only in moderation. That’s no more than 2 drinks per day for men and 1 for women.
1 drink = 1 bottle or can of beer (12 Oz)
1 small glass of wine (5 Oz)
Obesity and over consumption of high-calorie food
Obesity and physical inactivity may account for 25 to 30 percent of several major cancers-colon, breast, kidney.
Do not use plastic container in microwave.
Combination of high heat and plastic releases a harmful cancer causing chemical. into the food which causes breast cancer. Use glass, Corning ware or ceramic container.
There is evidence that limiting the consumption of some foods could prevent cancer.
Cancer-promoting foods are typically rich in refined sugars, processed carbohydrates, preservatives and by-products of deep-frying.
Food sources high in refined sugars such as sweetened beverages, sodas and many juices can increase cancer.
Doughnuts are the completion of three major classes of cancer causing foods; they are deep-fried, contain high levels of sugars and are based on heavily refined carbohydrates. The combination of by-products from the frying process together with heavy amounts of sugar and processed flour make doughnuts particularly risky to those hoping to reduce cancer risk.
Fried potato products such as French fries, potato chips and hash browns are also high on the list of cancer-causing food which is the by-product of processed carbohydrates and deep- frying process.
Hot dogs and other preserved, salted meats such as bacon or bologna should be consumed in moderation or avoided.
Such meats are dangerous. Because they have some harmful chemicals are into the mix as preservatives.
Burned Meats
When organic plant or animal matter is burned, a number of toxic, mutagen by-products are formed. Many of these by-products are exactly the same as those produced in the burning of tobacco that accounts for the toxic and cancer promoting effects of cigarettes. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancers of the colon, stomach and other digestive system malignancies are associated with high intake of charred or burned meats. While this effect has not yet been rigorously established for other burned foods such as burnt toast, the same effect is possible.
Minimize your exposure to environmental toxins
It’s impossible to avoid exposure to environmental toxins entirely, but you can strive to avoid the following everyday toxins through simple lifestyle choices:
Heavy metals – found in treated wood, antiperspirants, vaccines, and factory farmed fish
Dioxins – found in fat of animals that are factory farmed
Pesticides – non-organic fruits and vegetables, factory farmed meats, and bug repellents
It’s impossible to avoid exposure of some toxins entirely through simple lifestyle choices.
Some toxic chemicals are in every aspects of our life. Such as
Ingredients in your cosmetics, Personal Care Products, home-care products, baby-care products, laundry care products and so on.
Bis-phenol A, or BPA is a toxic chemical that is presently perfectly legal for use in food and beverage containers, mainly canned food. BPA is used as epoxy resin that lines metal food cans and is also found in plastic food storage containers, baby bottles, and water bottles. Soups, beans, infant formula, and other food packages may leach BPA from the can lining.
Cancer causing chemicals, health destroying compounds contaminate air, food, water supply in the form of chlorine, synthetic drugs, formaldehyde, herbicides and pesticides.
Avoiding cigarettes, minimizing alcohol, and getting regular exercise are a great start to an anti-cancer lifestyle.
But to best support your health, you need to look at your eating habits.
You may be eating many foods that fuel cancer, while neglecting the powerful foods which are full of nutrients that can protect you.
If you change your diet and behaviors, you can minimize your risk of disease and possibly even stop cancer in its tracks.
Foods high in Beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin E, selenium and vitamin C significantly increase elimination of toxins and free radicals known to cause cellular changes that are the root of cancer Furthermore, the addition of pro biotic is associated with improved immune function by re balancing the natural intestinal bacteria.
Plant-derived Vitamin A:
Recommended Intake
10,000 IU/day for adult males
8,000 IU/day for adult females
Most fruits contain vitamin A, but the following fruits have a significant amount:
Cantaloupes
Grapefruit
Guava
Mango
Papaya
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Vegetables are
Amaranth Leaves
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Butternut Squash
Carrots
Broccoli
Cabbage
Kale
Leeks
Peas
Pumpkin
Rapine
Spinach
Sweet Potato
Swiss chard
Vitamin c:
Recommended Intake
60 mg – 250 mg
All fruits and vegetables have some vitamin C. Some of the best sources are:
Green peppers
Citrus fruits and juices
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Sweet potatoes
Vitamin E – nutritional info:
75 IU
Fruits are
Avocado
Blackberries
Black Currants
Blueberries
Cranberries
Guava
Kiwi
Mango
Nectarine
Papaya
Peach
Pomegranate
Raspberries
Veg sources are:
Butternut Squash
Parsnip
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Swiss char
Selenium:
Recommended Intake
Males and females 19+ years: 50mcg/day
Brazil nuts dried, unbalanced, 1 oz.
Walnuts black, dried, 1 oz.
Oatmeal, 1 c cooked
Rice, enriched, long grain, cooked, 1 c
Beta carotene:
Human beings or animals cannot produce Beta Carotene. This explains why beta carotene foods should be included in your diet. A. An average daily intake of beta carotene of about 2 to 7 mg. is normally prescribed by the doctor, taking into consideration an individual’s health.
The need arises if you consume alcohol regularly or if you are a regular smoker. Here is a list of foods with beta carotene.
High Beta Carotene Foods
Raw Romaine Lettuce
Raw Green Leaf Lettuce
Green Dandelion
Spinach
Carrots
Raw Mustard Greens
Turnip Greens
Kale
Pumpkin
Cabbage
Other foods high in beta carotene include sweet potatoes, pumpkins, broccoli, green peppers, apricots, tomatoes, collard green, fresh thyme, winter squash, cilantro, cantaloupes, and other green leafy vegetables
Not all health problems are avoidable, but you have more control over your health than you may think.
This means by monitoring and twisting our inputs, we can influence and even determine our well-being.
Health is really just a system of inputs and outputs for good or ill.
The Heath of human beings is not predominantly determine by medical intervention,but by their behavior,food and environment.
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About the Author:
Using my Bachelors in Bio Chemistry, I have been working as a skin care consultant and nutrition consultant able to fully analyze the surface and deeper layers of the facial skin. I recommend solutions that are backed by an institute led by a reputable Scientific Advisory Board. The Board includes 10 leading scientists in the field of health, nutrition and genetics.
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Categories: Breast Cancer Risks Tags: Better, cancer, Cure, improve, Lifestyle, Prevent, Prevention, than
Macrobiotic Lifestyle Tips : Story of a Cancer Survivor Because of a Macrobiotic Lifestyle
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Categories: Metastatic Breast Cancer Tags: because, cancer, Lifestyle, Macrobiotic, Story, Survivor, Tips
Lifestyle Affects Cancer Risks
During February 2009, results of a joint American-British study concluded that 1/3 of most common cancer cases in the U.S. to be preventable by making healthy choices. Next to avoiding smoking, a healthy lifestyle is the most effective thing you can do to prevent cancer.
Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado at Denver, stated that even though estimating cancer preventability is very complex and involves making some assumptions, the figures in the report are as good an estimate as possible about the number of cases that could be prevented through healthy diet, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight.
At the AICR (American Institute for Cancer Research) Conference 2008, 400 people attended and participated in prevention topics such as: potential risks and benefits of specific dietary supplements, how changing eating and physical activity may affect cancer survivorship and effective ways to get people to adopt healthy behaviors and stick to them. Certain nutrients found in food that can change how a person’s genes function to influence cancer risk were also discussed.
The AICR urges people to eat a healthy diet that includes a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans. Here, you will also get your nutrients, fiber and cancer fighting phytochemicals.
The cancer preventing benefits found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and bok choy have been well known. Allium vegetables like onion, garlic, shallots, scallions and chives contain sulphur compounds called organosulfides which are touted for providing heart health, stimulating immunity, warding off infection and deactivating carcinogens. According to research, this compound also seems to help prevent cells from mutating and tumors from forming. In general, the foods of the Allium family decrease inflammation and protect against stomach and colorectal cancers.
Robert S. Chapkin, Ph.D., presented the conference data describing how omega-3 fatty acids may prevent colon tumors. At first, the omega-3 fatty acids in fish were linked with lower risk of heart disease. Now, research at the cellular level is beginning to reveal a possible link with lower risk of cancer. Sources of omega-3 fatty acids include: oily fish such as salmon and tuna, flax seed/oil and walnuts which contain ALA-alpha-linolenic acid which slows the growth of breast cancer cells.
Dr. Zeke Emanuel, an oncologist and director of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health emphasized the need for people to keep their weight in a healthy range. Besides eating a nutritious diet, people need to include 30 minutes of exercise into their days, at least four days every week. Exercise plays a multiple role in human health, benefiting the circulatory system, muscular/skeletal system and increases the effectiveness of our immunity system to fend off beginning cancer cell growth and foreign invaders like bacteria and virus’.
Some of the recommendations for policy improvements to government, industry, media, schools, workplaces and humanity are:
?Governments should build walking and cycling routes.
?The food and drinks industry should make public health an “explicit priority.”
?Schools should encourage exercise and provide healthy food.
?Schools, workplaces and institutions should remove junk food from vending machines.
?Health professionals should provide more information about healthy living and cancer prevention.
?People should use nutrition guides and food labels to buy healthier food for their families.
AICR Recommendations for Cancer Prevention include:
?Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.
?Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.
?Avoid sugary drinks. Limit consumption of energy dense foods (particularly processed foods high in added sugar or low in fiber, or high in fat).
?Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes such as beans.
?Limit consumption of red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.
?If consumed at all, limit alcoholic drinks to 2 for men and 1 for women a day.
?Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with salt (sodium).
?Don’t use supplements to protect against cancer.
Special Population Recommendations
?It is best for mothers to breastfeed exclusively for up to 6 months and then add other liquids and foods.
?After treatment, cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.
And always remember – Do not smoke or chew tobacco.
Linda Hibbard holds certificates in Personal Training and Lifestyle/Weight Management. Innovative health and fitness products for men and women are available through her website at http://www.womenspersonalfitness.net
Categories: Breast Cancer Risks Tags: affects, cancer, Lifestyle, Risks
Active Lifestyle Reduce Chance on Breast Cancer
Sometimes the immediate benefits of exercise – extra energy or a sense of accomplishment – are better motivation to exercise than long-term gains such as protection against chronic diseases. But, whatever the incentive, being physically active throughout one’s life is good for health. Canadian researchers recently added further support to a long-term benefit of exercise for women with some new findings that a lifetime of physical activity may minimize the risk of developing breast cancer.
An active lifestyle reduces possibly the chance on hereditary udder cancer. That is the provisional conclusion of the test book of Anouk Pijpe, research worker at Dutch cancer institute.
Women who are charged with the hereditary genetic deviation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 the gene have 6 up to 8 a time larger chance on getting udder cancer then women without this hereditary construction. A slightly brought back by moving sufficiently and healthy body weight seems be able this become risk.
That a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk on udder cancer for the general population it had been already rather shown. The research of Anouk Pijpe shows that this applies also to women with hereditary udder cancer (BRCA 1 and 2).
Anouk Pijpe give a step in the good direction to its research – of the first in its type – to that are, but that we there still long are not: `It is still too early for specific recommendations. For that follow-up studies are necessary. Up to that time the most important message to BRCA1/2 mutation-carry-delicate is that the recommendations apply such as those in general applying, certainly also for them.
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Cancer is a Preventable Disease of our Western Life-style
Cancer rates have been rising steadily since the 1940s. But this is mostly true in Western life-style societies. By understanding how this happened, we can all learn to protect ourselves better.
A Cancer Epidemic Started in 1940
Cancer rates have been climbing steadily since 1940. This is not due simply to the increase use of screening tests or the aging of our population: cancer has been rising in children and adolescents at a rate of 1% per year in the past 25 years. And cancers that have no screening test (lymphomas, pancreatic and testicular cancers for example) have been increasing as fast or faster than those that do (breast, colon, prostate).
The most common cancers in the west are rare in some other countries. In certain regions of rural China in the 1980s, for example, WHO researchers using the same screening tests we use in the west were not able to find any cases of breast cancers. They were told by local physicians “it’s a disease of rich women! You’ll find it in Hong Kong, but not here.”
When Chinese women immigrate to the US, their risk of breast cancer becomes that of American women within one or two generations. The same is true for Japanese men and prostate cancer. Asians are not protected by their genes, but by their life-style.
A Watershed in 1940: Five causes of a cancer epidemic
Five major aspects of our life-style have changed since 1940 and contribute to the progression of cancer:
1. The massive increase of sugar consumption
We went from 12 lbs of refined sugar per person per year in the 1800s to 154 lbs per person per year in 2000.
Cancer cells feed primarily on sugar. To detect where a tumor may be present in the body, we use PET scans that simply measure where radioactive sugar accumulates.
2. The change in the way we feed animals that feed us
Animals used to feed on grass and seeds rich in omega-3 fatty acids that slow the growth of cancer. Hence, meat, milk, cheese, butter, and eggs were all rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Now that animals are fed in feed-lots with corn and soy, omega-3s have practically disappeared from our common foods. Eggs my grandmother used to feed me on the farm I was raised on were a genuine “health food”, filled with the omega-3 DHA necessary for the growth of a child’s brain. Today’s supermarket eggs have practically no DHA and it has been replaced with the pro-inflammatory omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA).
A diet rich in omega-6 fatty acids is associated with a markedly increased risk of breast cancer. As omega-6s stimulate inflammation in the body, they are likely to feed the growth of many other types of cancer too.
Trans-fats, introduced widely in the 1960’s, are now present in almost all industrial foods (pizza, cookies, French fries etc.). They are thought to increase the risk of breast cancer by a factor of 2. A Dutch government report of 2007 estimates that that the number of deaths due to trans-fats in that country exceeds that due to motor vehicle accidents.
3. The introduction of chemicals in all aspects of life
DDT was invented just before WWII. Many common herbicides and pesticides mimic the effects of estrogen hormones in the body. They can stimulate the growth of an existing tumor. In 2005 the CDC found 149 toxic chemicals in the blood and urine of American of all ages that were tested. In 2003 the University of Seattle tested pre-schoolers who eat conventional (non-organic) foods. The level of pesticide residue in their urine was high. For some of them, it exceeded by a factor of 4 the limit recommended by the Environment Protection Agency. Children eating organic diets (70% organic or better) had practically none.
4. The massive reduction in our physical activity
Do you know anyone whose grand-parents did not walk to school? How many children do you know today who walk more than 10 minutes to go to school? Something powerful has happened to our relation to physical activity. We are the most sedentary humans that ever existed.
The risk of a relapse from breast cancer is 50% less in women who walk 30 minutes six times a week. Physical activity is a highly effective protector from cancer that we have eliminated from our lives.
5. The disorganization of our social support networks
We Americans now move on average every 5 years. This means that we change neighbors, often friends, and get further and further away from our aunts and uncles, our parents, and our siblings.
In times of major stress, the most effective protection from adverse psychological and physical effects on our body comes from the strength of our intimate relationships. How strong are they today when we no longer live near each other? Twenty-five percent of us say that we have no one in whom we can confide.
One Australian study found that women with a major stressor in their life and no intimate support had 9.5 times more chances of developing breast cancer.
The encouraging part in this sad picture of an epidemic is that each one of us can start to reverse these societal changes in our own life. We can decide to nourish balance, to stimulate health, in us and around us. We can opt for a new way of life. And in doing so, we simultaneously help prevent cancer if we are cancer free, and strengthen our bodies if we already have it.
©2008 David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD
Categories: Breast Cancer Doctors Tags: cancer, Disease, Lifestyle, Preventable, western