The Prevention of Cancer
Cancer, like all other diseases, has a multi-factorial cause. There is never just one reason for any single cancer. A set of ongoing circumstances need to be influencing our life for quite awhile before the disease will manifest itself. Researches even believe that cancer cells are a regular occurrence in our bodies, but that the norm is that these cells are destroyed quickly by our immune system. It is only when this fails that a disease can occur.Collecting data on cancer as a full blown disease can thus not adequately be done without setting strict guidelines. When figures are only collected from death certificates, people will only be registered as cancer sufferers if they have actually died from cancer. By international convention, death certificates are a means of collecting data on reasons why people die, not on diseases that people may suffer from. In other words, if someone was suffering from a bowel cancer but died from a heart attack, you would not count this cancer if you were to collect cancer figures from death rates. Once again it shows that statistical information has little value, since there are so many variables that can be manipulated. Especially when we talk about people, we can not find two people that are alike and therefore totally comparable; we all are different and do things differently, so the fact that one person smokes and the other doesn’t, does not mean that there are no other differences and in effect, we should be very careful when drawing conclusions from comparing people’s lives.
"What causes cancer?"
The major causes of cancer are generally believed to be a faulty diet, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation. It is estimated that 60% of all cancers in men and 40% of all cancers in women are caused by a diet that is too high in fat and proteins and too low in fruits, vegetables and fibre. Fats are believed to promote cancer rather than initiate it and animal fats and hydrogenated fats are particularly detrimental. A high intake of protein has been associated with an increased risk of many types of cancer and a high sugar intake significantly increases the risk of breast cancer.Smoked, pickled, salt-cured and barbecued foods are also potent cancer initiators while alcohol is strongly implicated in the promotion of already initiated cancer cells.
Smoking and the exposure to second-hand smoke accounts for about 30% of all cancer deaths and it is estimated that 350,000 men and women die every year in the United States from smoking related illnesses.
Pesticides and other toxic chemicals are increasingly implicated as cancer initiators. Asbestos has been strongly linked to lung cancer and benzene to leukaemia and bone marrow cancers. Chlorination of drinking water is another potent cause of cancer and is estimated to cause 15% of all cancers of the rectum and 9% of all bladder cancers. Excessive exposure to solar radiation and electromagnetic fields can lead read more
