Prevention of Cancers and Tumors
Prevention of Cancers and Tumors – ETHOS HEALTH CARE.
Cancer prevention is defined as active measures to decrease the risk of cancer. The vast majority of cancer cases are due to environmental risk factors, and many, but not all, of these environmental factors are controllable lifestyle choices. Thus, cancer is considered a largely preventable disease. Greater than 30% of cancer deaths could be prevented by avoiding risk factors. More than four in 10 cancer cases could be prevented by lifestyle changes, such as:
- keeping a healthy body weight
- cutting back on alcohol
- eating a healthy, balanced diet
- keeping active
- not smoking
- avoiding certain infections (like HPV)
- staying safe in the sun
- occupation (see chemicals in the workplace)
Not all environmental causes are controllable, such as naturally occurring background radiation, and other cases of cancer are caused through hereditary genetic disorders, and thus it is not possible to prevent all cases of cancer. For example, There is no known way to prevent primary brain tumors. Some secondary brain tumors that originally started in other organs can be prevented. For example, avoiding tobacco products decreases the risk of lung cancer, thereby decreasing the chance that lung cancer cells ever appear in the brain.
Dietary recommendations
Many dietary recommendations have been proposed to reduce the risk of cancer. Dietary recommendations for cancer prevention typically include:
- An emphasis on vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fish
- An avoidance of processed and red meat (beef, pork, and lamb), animal fats, and refined carbohydrates.
