Reduce your risk of cancer

 

Reduce the number of cancer victims through prevention

Do you know the proverb: "Better safe than sorry"? Many factors contribute to the risk of cancer and influence the prognosis according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal, these nine risk factors are associated with more than a third of annual cancer fatalities worldwide.

But, unlike risk factors beyond our control, such as family history, we can influence them, because they are modifiable. Therefore, if you take concrete steps about a two, you're likely to reduce the risk of contracting cancer and dying.

Here are the risk factors identified by the study:

•     Overweight and obesity,
•     inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables,
•     physical inactivity,
•     smoking,
•     alcohol abuse,
•     the unprotected sex,
•     urban pollution,
•     smoke from a coal stove or wood,
•     the transmission of hepatitis in the context of medical care.

During the study, researchers at the School of Public Health from Harvard analyzed data from the Comparative Risk Assessment, a project led by the World Health Organization that examines risk factors in different parts of world. In their analysis, Harvard researchers have identified how some risk factors were in men and women and the impact of these factors in high-income countries, medium and low.

Overall, the researchers concluded that these risk factors are responsible for 35% or 2.43 million of the 7 million cancer deaths worldwide each year. In a region with high incomes, such as North America, smoking, alcohol, overweight and obesity were the risk factors most important.

It is estimated that in Canada, more than 177,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed and about 75,300 cancer deaths are reported each year. In 2007, cancer has surpassed heart disease as leading cause of death in Canada. Given that there are effective methods of screening for a small number of cancers (and the likely outcome of the disease may depend on early diagnosis of cancer before it has spread), the effectiveness of cancer treatment may be limited against many cancers. The best way to decrease the number of such deaths, according to the Harvard study, is to prevent the development of cancer by targeting modifiable risk factors. Here is where you can take the reins.