You don’t have to get cancer. You know not to smoke to avoid lung cancer. Did you know that a very wide range of industrial causes of cancer have been identified? Avoiding the causes of cancer is the only way to prevent cancer.
We're fully aware that highly refined, processed and denaturized foods laced with various man-made chemicals are harmful to our body. This gives us an extra-ordinary commitment to propagate the importance of eating organic and natural foods and to lead a healthy lifestyle.
As we're living in the highly polluted urban environment, we must learn ways and means to protect ourselves to stay healthy. It is no doubt that we could not change the environment (unless one chooses to emigrate), however, we could still be able to choose our lifestyle, eating habits and foods in order to live healthily.
Our body has the best and nature cancer-killing system which is our immune system. Despite repeatedly taxing our body in such a "polluted", "unhealthy" environment, not all of us develop cancer. This show that a good immune system is indeed the best preventive system against all illnesses. Thus optimizing your immune system is the key to cancer prevention.
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recently published a 4-year Diet and Cancer project finding. This report offers strong new insights into diet and cancer. It examines the relationship between dietary factors and 18 specific cancers.
It further tells you how you can slash cancer rates simply by changing what you eat and how much you exercise.
How to cut your cancer risk by 75%
You can actually reduce your cancer risk by 30% to 40% by adopting healthy habits such as:
- Choose a diet rich in variety of plant-based foods.
- Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active.
- Drink alcohol only in moderation, if at all.
- Select foods low in fat and salt.
- Prepare and store food safely.
- Do not use tobacco in any form.
The above is the key finding of fifteen world's leading scientists in the field of diet and cancer.
Those scientists analyzed more than 4,500 research studies around the world to develop 15 dietary and lifestyle recommendations. By following their guidelines, you can also enjoy a good general health.
Nutritional and lifestyle connections
Although cancer can stem from genetic predisposition, bad lifestyle factors and unhealthy diet increase your risks. But the latest study found that diet and lifestyle factors can actually prevent cancer. You can protect yourself against cancer by choosing the correct food. For example:
- You can avoid 33% of lung cancers and 75% of colon and rectal cancers through dietary choices.
- You can prevent 33 to 50% of breast cancers through diet and related factors.
- And you can cut cancer risk by 20% by eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
Choosing healthy foods gives your body the nutrients it needs for good health. In addition, it provides a whole arsenal of natural com-pounds within food that help protect you from cancer risks you face every day.
Eating a healthier diet can also help to protect you against heart disease, stroke and a variety of other health problems. Similarly, maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active are equally important.
There's nothing magic or difficulty about these lifestyle choices.
- Don't smoke
- Eat right
- Stay active
- Watch your weight
Put them all together and they add up to a formula that can cut your cancer risk by up to 75%. Just a few simple changes in your lifestyle can help reduce cancer risk for you and your family. Value life. Choose health. Start today...
Stop smoking
Smoking is the most publicized cancer risks. There is no question about that. Smoking is one of the worst choices you can make from a health perspective.
According to American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), tobacco not only increases lung cancer risk, it also appears to influence some other forms of cancer. As a “bonus”, smoking can significantly increase your risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke.
According to WHO, lung cancer is currently the biggest killer and the most common cancer - over 1.3 million cases worldwide and almost 1 million deaths a year.
Some 85% of lung cancer cases in men and 46% in women are due to smoking. In fact, smoking accounts for 1 in 7 of all cancer cases worldwide.
You can prevent these needless deaths from lung cancer. Do not smoke, or use tobacco in any form. If you currently are not a smoker, don't start. If you smoke, stop.
Start exercising
Do you exercise often? Exercise is also an important part of cancer prevention equation. According to AlCR latest report, there is "convincing evidence" that regular physical activity protects you against colon cancer.
A summary of 16 cancer studies showed highly active people were 60% less likely to get colon cancer than sedentary people.
Researchers hypothesize that regular exercise helps push food through the bowel. This thereby shortens the time carcinogenic substances spend there.
Physical activity also protects you against breast and lung cancers. With breast cancer for example, studies suggest that physical activity causes the body to produce less estrogen (some breast cancers depend on estrogen for growth and development).
The WHO acknowledged that "breast cancer is on the rise, particularly in regions which previously had low rates". This means every woman cannot afford to ignore this disease. Start caring your health. For a start, why not try exercising?
BBQ meats may contain cancer-causing chemicals
Are barbecued beef, fried chicken and other charcoal-roasted or grilled meats your favorite foods? If so, beware…
According to US National Cancer Institute (NCI), fried and barbecued meats contain mutagens (chemicals that may damage your DNA) and carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
PAHs is currently on the top 3 carcinogen list.
How the chemicals form
HCAs are formed when amino acids (the building blocks of all proteins) and creatine (a chemical found in muscles) react at cooking temperatures. They are created in greater quantities when meats are cooked at high temperatures.
PAHs are formed by burning fat during open flame cooking. The smoke resulting from burnt fat contains PAHs that are deposited on meat’s surface.
Exist in beef, pork, chicken and fish
Researches conducted by NCI as well as by Japanese and European scientists have identified at least 17 HCAs that result from cooking of muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl and fish.
Are you a western food lover? Take note. About half of the HCAs identified were found to be present in foods Americans eat most often!
Cancers in animals
In animal studies, mice, rats and monkeys that take HCA in their diet had increased rates of certain cancers. The most abundant HCA in cooked muscle meats, PhIP, causes lymphomas (cancer of the lymph system) in mice. PhIP also causes mammary and large intestine tumors in rats.
Another HCA known as IQ was found to cause liver cancers in majority of monkeys. Both PhIP and IQ (which were absorbed into the monkeys' bodies) have altered their DNA structure. This is however, nothing new as HCAs have long been found to be mutagenic, since 1980s.
Potential cancer risk to humans
These research results have raised concerns that HCA may also be human carcinogens. This is compounded by the results of another different study — in which human volunteers ate 320 grams (about 10 ounces) of cooked ground meat patties. It showed that most of the HCA eaten were absorbed into their body.
In animal studies, most of the cancer-causing chemicals from meat eaten were found to be absorbed into the animals' bodies. Then, they were activated into cancer-causing chemicals with only a small percentage excreted unchanged.
Risky high-temperature cooking
Four factors influence HCA formation:
1. type of food
2. cooking method
3. temperature
4. and time
Of the 4, temperature is the most important factor. According to NCI, frying, broiling and barbecuing produce the largest amounts of HCA because the meats are cooked at very high temperatures (over 212°F or 100°C).
"Well done" meat linked to stomach cancer
Prefer to eat your beef "medium well" or "well done"? You will have 3 times higher risk for stomach cancer than those who eat their beef "rare" or "medium rare".
Eating beef 4 or more times a week? You will have more than twice the risk of stomach cancer than those who eat beef less frequently.
These were findings from NCI study which assessed the diets and cooking habits of 176 people diagnosed with stomach cancer and 503 people without cancer.
Hamburgers and lymph node cancer
Love to take diets high in meat and animal fat especially hamburgers? You are most likely to double your risk for lymph node cancer, also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
This was reported in Journal of the American Medical Association in April 2005. Researchers who studied 35,000 older women believed that it may be related to the way hamburgers are cooked.
Avoid meat
Have you heard of traditional wisdom that advises you to always cook meat thoroughly to kill food poisoning bacteria? However, this recent study indicated that cooking meat thoroughly can lead to cancer.
Eating meat is thus a case of between the devil and the deep blue sea! Not only that, meat consumption can also result in higher medical bills, as was the case in US.
According to a 1995 report in Preventive Medicine by a doctors group, Americans spend between US$28.6 billion and US$61.4 billion a year in medical costs for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, cancer and other illnesses attributed to meat consumption.
The report also says that eating meat is comparable to smoking tobacco. And the health threat is "of a similar magnitude when you keep it up over a lifetime".
With all these evidence, you may want to avoid meat completely. If so, take heart. You can still get protein from other food sources like beans, tofu, lentils, seeds and nuts.
And here's another consolation. Study after study has confirmed that vegetarians are healthier than meat-eaters. So why not start today?
Safer Cooking Methods
If you must eat meat, the NCI advises that you adopt less risky cooking methods. According to the NCI:
• Oven roasting and baking are relatively safer than frying or barbecuing as they are done at lower temperatures.
• Stewing, boiling or poaching are done at or below 212°F, which is also quite safe.
If possible, avoid making gravy from meat drippings.
12 ways you can follow to prevent cancer
1. Choose predominantly plant-based diets
In general, the best type of diet to prevent cancer is based mostly on variety of plant foods like vegetables, fruits, legumes (dried beans), nuts and whole grains.
Some of the best cancer fighting food are wheatgrass, green tea, mushroom, broccoli, seaweed, garlic, onion, grapes and berries. The evidence is especially strong for vegetables and fruits, which protect you against cancer at many different areas in the body.
These foods may prevent cancer directly by providing protective substances such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, plant hormones and
phytochemicals like chlorophyll, catechins, anthocyanins, terpenes, polysaccharides, resveratrol and other compounds.
They may also provide indirect protection by helping you cut down on foods of animal origin especially red meats. Why cut down red meats? They are linked to a number of different cancers when eaten in excessive amounts.
Plant foods also tend to have lower calories, which can help you prevent obesity - a known risk factor for several major cancers.
2. Avoid being over-weight
Having over-weight problem? You may have higher risk for endometrial cancer, which is the cancer of endometrium (mucous membrane lining the uterus). It probably increases your risk of breast cancer and kidney cancer as well.
You should also not increase your weight significantly after age 18, as this may lead to a host of health problems. Limit weight gain during adulthood to less than 11 pounds (5kg).
3. Exercise regularly
Having low occupational activity? You can take an hour's brisk walk or similar exercise daily. Exercise vigorously for a total of at least 1 hour in a week.
AlCR expert panel found convincing evidence that regular physical activity keeps you away from colon cancer and possibly breast and lung cancer.
By protecting against weight gain, regular exercise can also help prevent cancers associated with obesity. Whether you enjoy walking, gardening or cycling, there are a variety of activities to keep you fit and reduce your cancer risk.
4. Alcohol consumption is not recommended.
Evidence from cancer research does not support alcohol consumption. Alcoholic drinks definitely increase your risk of can-cers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus and liver. It also probably increases your risk of colon, rectum and breast cancer. Pregnant women and children should not drink alcohol too.
5. Reduce intake of meat
If eaten at all, limit intake of red meat to less than 3 ounces daily. Preferably, choose fish, poultry or white meat in place of red meat.
When eaten in substantial amounts, red meat (beef, lamb and pork and products made from these meats) probably increases your risk of cancers of colon and rectum, pancreas, breast, prostate and kid-ney.
Diets high in animal fat, of which red meat is an important source, possibly increase the risk of other cancers as well.
However these research findings do not apply to other meats. So it is better to choose fish or poultry. There is no lower limit to the amount of meat required in a healthy diet. So, vegetarian diets are compatible with good health and low cancer risk.
6. Reduce fatty foods
Limit consumption of fatty foods, particularly those of animal origin. Choose modest amounts of appropriate vegetable oils. A high fat diet possibly increases the risk of cancers of the lung, colon, rectum, breast and prostate.
When adding fat to foods, vegetable oil is preferable to animal fats like butter or lard. For better heart health, choose vegetable oils which are primarily monounsaturated with a minimum of hydrogenation.
7. Reduce salt
Limit consumption of salted foods and use of cooking and table salt. Use herbs and spices to season foods. Stomach cancer is the main cancer risk from diets high in salted foods.
In US, it has been found that most of the salt in diet comes from manufactured foods. Examples are like canned soups, sauces, frozen and canned meals, as well as salt-cured foods which are widely eaten in some areas. Try herbs and spices as a flavorful alternative.
8. Don't eat foods contaminated with fungi
Foods contaminated with aflatoxins and other fungal microorganisms probably increase the risk of primary liver cancer. This is a significant concern in parts of Asia and Africa where crops may be stored for long periods in warm, damp conditions.
The best advice is not to eat foods stored for a long time without temperature-control, particularly if they become visibly moldy.
9. Use refrigeration to preserve perishable foods
There is convincing evidence that refrigeration decreases the risk of stomach cancer by reducing the need of salt as preservative. It also enables year-round availability of vegetables and fruits.
10. Do not eat charred food
For meat and fish eaters, avoid burning of meat juices. Consume the following only occasionally:
• meat and fish grilled in direct flame
• cured and smoked meat
Grilling foods, especially meat and fish, can result in the production of cancer-causing compounds called hetero-cyclic aromatic amines. Foods treated with nitrites, such as bacon and other cured meats, contain potentially cancer-causing nitrosamines.
Other potentially hazardous compounds, produced as a result of burning wood, are also found in smoked foods. If you enjoy flame-cooked, cured or smoked foods occasionally, they are unlikely to affect your cancer risk.
However, relatively low-temperature cooking methods like steaming, boiling, poaching, stewing, braising, baking or roasting are better choices.
11. Do not smoke or chew tobacco
Tobacco is the chief cause of lung cancer and is probably the most important single cause of cancers of the mouth, throat and digestive tract. It also contributes to cancers of the pancreas, cervix and bladder.
Although tobacco falls outside the area of diet and nutrition, the expert panel felt that no set of recommendations designed to prevent cancer was complete unless it discouraged the production, promotion and use of tobacco in any form.
We’ve discussed some of the simple and important steps to prevent and fight cancer. For this deadly disease, prevention is always better than cure. Remember, early detection and early treatment is always your most effective weapon against cancer.
Now that you know about cancer prevention, but still there are people who smoke, eat junk food and adopting unhealthy life style. Cancer is preventable because it is caused by human! Its your own responsibility to prevent cancer.
More details about cancer prevention here..
