Health and Longevity
Here’s Why I Believe Some Cancers Might Be Preventable
It is a complex and challenging condition, but reducing risks with lifestyle changes looks possible and promising
How to Lower the Chances of Developing Cancers
I have been asking the question of whether cancer is preventable for decades.
When I conducted a literature review to gain perspectives, my findings boiled down to the point that not all cancers are preventable.
However, we can reduce the risks of developing some cancers with medical support and healthy lifestyle changes.
Cancer is a complex condition that has bewildered scientists and medical researchers for decades and even centuries. The number of cancers significantly increased in this century. There might be some links to root causes and symptoms.
According to a recent report by WHO (World Health Organization):
“ Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. The most common in 2020, in terms of new cases of cancer, were: breast (2.26 million), lung (2.21 million), colon and rectum (1.93 million), prostate (1.41 million), skin — non-melanoma (1.20 million), and stomach (1.09 million) cases.”
Cancer is a topic close to my heart as I lost several friends and colleagues younger than me. Some of them did not have any symptoms. They looked very healthy from the outset. Unfortunately, recovery was not possible since their cancer was detected very late.
A friend in her mid-20s is currently struggling with multiple treatment methods at stage four.
She informed me to discuss options with her oncologists like Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy, Hormone therapy, Radiation therapy, Hyperthermia, Photodynamic therapy, Stem cell transplants, and Targeted therapy. So, there are many therapeutic options.
I learned from my medical doctors and oncologist friends that it is best to identify cancers before they go to the next stages and spread to different body parts.
Cancers have five stages measured with numbers from 0 to 4. For example, zero indicates no evidence of a tumor. And four shows a larger and denser tumor than previous numbers.
My purpose in this post is to create awareness by highlighting the importance of regular screening for the early detection of some cancers without going into scientific details. I plan another post to provide potential diagnostics and treatment methods.
Even though detecting some cancers at earlier stages can be challenging, it is always good to have regular check-ups as some biomarkers and abnormalities in various tests can give indications to our doctors.
Moreover, from my understanding, diagnosing cancers at the nascent phases might reduce risks for their growth and increase the chance of curing them.
Screening by governments and health organizations in several countries produces good results. For example, our government encourages men over 50 to be screened for colon cancer in Australia.
Even though I have no symptoms since I am above this age range, they provide me with this free service as the age group's risk is statistically high.
Another screening example in Australia is melanoma which is common skin cancer. Since I get regular sun exposure for various health reasons, I get checked for symptoms of skin cancer every six months. My family doctor does not charge me, as Medicare covers it.
The screening process takes only ten minutes. Several of my neighbors saved their lives using these screening opportunities. When the family doctors see indicative symptoms, they refer the patients to specialists who can use more sophisticated tools.
My literature review shows four significant ways to screen for cancer risks. They are lab tests, imaging tests, biopsies, and physical examinations. These methods are used to identify the stages of cancer.
Lab tests include blood and urine tests. Imaging tests include MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, ultrasounds, and X-rays. Biopsies can produce better results for some cancers by collecting cells from specific body parts.
The physical tests are usually conducted by doctors' eyes and hands, checking abnormalities such as changes in skin color or shapes of organs.
I observed these methods in various friends, such as Jennifer, whose cancers were detected at earlier ages. Most of my friends who dealt with breast cancer used various detection techniques.
Some friends identified their cancer through breast ultrasounds, some mammograms, MRIs, and others via biopsies taking a small number of tissues from the breast.
Another common cancer in my circles that affected multiple male friends and relatives was prostate cancer.
Fortunately, none of the people I knew resulted in death. Even though the efficiency of PSA (Prostate-specific antigen) tests is controversial in Australia, a family physician detected a family member’s situation at an early stage using this test.
His situation was detected successfully, and the treatment was completed on time without causing any complications.
My family doctors have always checked my prostate risk since my early forties. Although the physical tests checking prostate enlargement are not usually comfortable, I agree to get them done for my peace of mind.
When I asked my doctors about screening, they said they were still unsure about the effectiveness of screening tests for reducing the death rate from prostate cancer.
One primary focus of scientists has been on genetics studying abnormal genes inherited from our ancestors. It is interesting to observe that millions of research dollars have been invested in cancer studies using genetics.
However, many scientists have researched the effects of metabolic syndrome. As pointed out in this epidemiological review paper:
“Growing data show the association of metabolic syndrome (MetS) or its components with cancer development and cancer-related mortality.” I shared my perspectives on metabolic syndrome in an article: Fix Metabolic Syndrome, Live a Longer and Healthier Life
The same review paper informs that “the primary approach in MetS-cancer relation is to prevent risk factors.
Lifestyle changes, including weight loss and a healthy diet, decrease cancer risk in the normal population. It is postulated that an insulin-sensitizing agent, metformin, has cancer-preventing effects on diabetic patients.”
There are many types of cancers.
The most common ones are prostate, breast, ovarian, colon, endometrial, lung, liver, skin, cervical, pancreatic, kidney, bladder, stomach, testicular, thyroid, leukemia, and brain.
As you can see from this list, most of them relate to our organs. Some cancers are also related to gender, such as breast cancer for women and prostate for men. When cancer spreads to multiple organs, the treatment can get harder.
I plan to post another article covering potential cures for common cancers from my literature reviews.
Awareness of cancer's causes can be helpful. For this reason, when I reviewed common causes of cancers from various scientific papers indexed in Pubmed, I noticed a few broad categories, including carcinogens, lifestyle factors, viruses, infections, sunlight, and radiation.
These are broad categories covering hundreds of topics spanning multiple disciplines in the medical literature.
Understanding carcinogens that may affect our health is important as a preventative measure. Unfortunately, there are so many of them; hence it is impossible to list them in this short article.
Nevertheless, a list of carcinogens can be obtained from this website hosted by the American Cancer Society.
I want to conclude my article by extracting ten cancer-preventing recommendations to reduce risks documented by the World Health Organization for awareness purposes.
These are very generic and common knowledge but can be helpful to review from a health authority organization.
“1. Not using tobacco;
2. maintaining a healthy body weight;
3. eating a healthy diet, including fruit and vegetables;
4. doing physical activity on a regular basis;
5. avoiding harmful use of alcohol;
6. getting vaccinated against HPV and hepatitis B if you belong to a group for which vaccination is recommended;
7. avoiding ultraviolet radiation (which primarily results from exposure to the sun and artificial tanning devices);
8. ensuring safe and appropriate use of radiation in health care (for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes);
9. minimizing occupational exposure to ionizing radiation; and
10. reducing exposure to outdoor air pollution and indoor air pollution, including radon (a radioactive gas produced from the natural decay of uranium, which can accumulate in buildings — homes, schools and workplaces).”
Cancer is a complex condition that requires personal responsibility and strong support from qualified healthcare professionals. This debilitating condition affects our physical health and our mental health.
Thank you for reading my perspectives and observations. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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