Prevent cancer? Yes we can
While some cancers are attributed to environmental exposures or genetic predisposition, the rest of us, suggests new research, could prevent cancer-related death — if we really want to.
And who wouldn’t want to? Evidently, most of us. Because when the rubber hits the road — or more to the point, when the hand hits the pantry doorknob — we make poor choices. We consume chips, sodas, and burgers; we skip the exercise. Some still smoke. And we wonder why we end up feeling bad both emotionally and physically.
Yes, cancer comes from that. And by really, truly applying some self-discipline, we could cut cancer deaths by more than half, as new research strongly indicates.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., with 1.6 million new cancer cases and a half a million deaths projected this year. Medical advances have seen a 17.9 percent decline in cancer deaths since 1969, but that’s modest compared with the dramatic increase in heart disease mortality (67.5 percent). Lifestyle goes a long way toward preventing both, conclude scientists.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University studied the health and lifestyle habits of tens of thousands of men and women, dividing them into low- (healthier lifestyles) and high- (unhealthy lifestyle) risk groups. Extrapolating to the population at large, they found that for women, an estimated 41 percent of cancer cases are potentially preventable, and 59 percent of cancer deaths. For men, 63 percent of cancer cases were preventable and 67 percent of deaths. As the report concludes:
“We found that a substantial proportion of cancer cases and even more deaths... might be prevented by quitting smoking, avoiding heavy alcohol consumption, maintaining a BMI between 18.5 and 27.5, and exercising at moderate intensity for at least 150 minutes or at a vigorous intensity for at least 75 minutes every week. These findings reinforce the predominant importance of lifestyle factors in determining cancer risk.”
Previous studies have firmly linked lifestyle choices with cancer risk in about two-thirds of cancer cases (the other third is genetic or environmental). This research estimates that 40 to 60 percent of cancer deaths are preventable simply by treating the body better on a daily basis.
Comparing that to expensive medications, fears, and chemo should make a healthy lifestyle an easy choice. Yet habits can be hard to break, and American food culture is fattier and more sugar-centered than most. Refined sugar consumption trends in the past 300 years are startling:
In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year. By 1800 it was more than 400 percent higher (18 pounds), and by 1900, we were up to 90 pounds of sugar consumed annually. In 2009, more than half of Americans daily consumed a half-pound of sugar, or roughly 180 pounds per year. According to the USDA we also consume 57 pounds more meat annually than we did in the 1950s, and two-thirds more fat.
In sum, according to the USDA’s report “Profiling Food Consumption in America,” nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight and unhealthy, and on average most Americans daily consume about 1,000 more calories than is recommended. Add to these poor diets increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and feeling stressed or sickly comes with the territory, sometimes to irreversible extremes.
Anti-smoking campaigns have correlated with significant reductions in lung cancer, strongly suggesting lifestyle changes can make stark differences in risk. Other studies have linked healthier lifestyles with reduced rates of certain types of depression, stress, and other quality-of-life problems. While other things may not be, lifestyle choices are in the average person’s control. Considering the consequences, it makes sense to better exercise it.
For more information on the study, see Oncology.Jamanetwork.com.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who is determined to exercise more. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.