Can I reduce my risk of getting cancer?
The short answer is: sometimes.
We don’t know exactly what causes many cancers. In all cases, some kind of damage
occurs to the DNA in the body’s cells, and this damage makes the cells reproduce
too rapidly. But many factors—some you can control, some
that are out of your control—play into why DNA becomes damaged in the first place.
What can I do?
The major cancer risk factors we can control include our overall wellness
and our use of tobacco. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly
may make a difference in lowering your cancer risk.
Quitting smoking definitely makes a difference. If everyone stopped smoking
cigarettes, overall cancer rates would drop dramatically. There would
still be cancer, but it would be less common.
In fact, some estimates say that, if everyone in the United States stopped smoking
and started eating better and exercising regularly, cancer rates would drop by half.
But that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
Here are some recommendations from the American Cancer Society:
- Keep yourself at a healthy weight by balancing your calorie intake
with a good amount of physical activity. If you’re currently overweight, get to
and stay at a healthy weight
- Adopt an active lifestyle. For adults, that means engaging in at
least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, 5 or more days per week.
And 45 to 60 minutes of physical activity is even better. Moderate activities include
those that require about the same effort as a brisk walk. Vigorous activities use
large muscle groups, raise your heart rate, speed up your breathing, and make you
sweat
- Eat a healthy diet. Eat healthy portions, and include 5 or more
servings of vegetables and fruits every day. Eat whole grains instead of processed
grains. And limit how much red meat you consume
- Limit how much alcohol you drink
- Avoid carcinogens (things that cause cancer). These cancer-causing
substances may be in your home or at work. The American Cancer Society
offers a list of known carcinogens
- Protect yourself from too much sunlight. Also avoid other sources
of UV light, such as tanning beds and lamps
- Avoid smoking and all other forms of tobacco
- Get tested for common cancers and pre-cancers
Regular testing for cancer may save your life.
Early detection methods help doctors find tumors and even pre-cancerous changes
in parts of the body. The earlier these tumors or pre-cancers are found, the easier
they often are to treat.
- Mammograms and Pap tests for women. Talk to your healthcare team
about when you should start having these tests and how frequently
- Prostate screening exams for men, including the PSA test and digital rectal
exam (DRE)
- Colonscopies for everyone over the age of 50—or earlier, for those
with a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer
Getting screened early and often won’t prevent you from getting cancer. But catching
the disease early gives you a better chance of surviving and thriving.
What should I realize that I just can’t do?
The difficult fact is, some people with healthy lifestyles will still get cancer.
It’s in their genes, or there is some other cause. Individually, it can be hard
to say why one person gets cancer.
Here are some of the main cancer risk factors that you can’t control:
- Age is one of the biggest factors that you can’t control: Older
people are far more likely than younger people to develop cancer. In fact, 3 out
of every 4 cancers is found in someone aged 55 older
- You can’t control the genes you were born with: Genes are packets
of DNA. You inherit genes from both of your parents. Only about 1 out of every
20 cases of cancer is due to a damaged gene that’s inherited from a parent. But
if you inherit one of these damaged genes, you are at a much higher risk of cancer
- You can’t always control the ways your genes are damaged: 19 out
of every 20 cases of cancer is due to DNA damage that builds up over time—over a
whole lifetime. Changes to DNA are called “mutations,” and they can be caused by
tobacco, chemicals, sunlight, or even by internal factors such as your hormones
If you think you’re at risk for a certain type of cancer, talk to your doctor about
early screening and genetic testing. There may even be medications that can reduce
your cancer risk.
The best thing you can do is treat yourself well, arm yourself with the latest
information—and relax.
There will continue to be new studies that reveal new risk factors and new ways
to manage your risk. Whether or not you or a loved one has the disease, keep in
mind that there are many, many doctors, nurses, researchers, counselors, and other
professionals working all over the world to fight it.
For your own part, eating right, not smoking, and following your doctor’s advice
are good ways to start addressing your risk of cancer. You can’t control all the
factors that can lead to cancer. But you aren’t helpless, and you’re never alone.
Find out about the benefits of good nutrition
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