Health

How To Prevent Cancer

Cancer Prevention refers to the measures or steps taken to minimize the risk of getting cancer. The action might include adopting a healthy lifestyle, avoiding tobacco, and alcohol, eating clean, exercising etc.

It is seen that between 30–50 per cent of all cancer cases can be prevented. But to prevent cancer one should follow a long-term strategy to control the cancer. 

To strengthen national efforts to address the burden of cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the WHO Global Action Plan provided for the Prevention and Control of cancer by targeting many of the risk factors below:

Tobacco

Smoking and eating tobacco has
Become more common these days especially in developing countries as they are cheap and easily accessible in shops and markets. Tobacco has several harmful chemicals that may cause cancer and other severe health issues. Tobacco is the greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer and kills more than 8 million people each year, from cancer and other diseases.

Alcohol

Alcohol drinking is a major issue especially when it becomes an addiction that one cannot stop people often consume it to have fun, but it's a serious health-causing drink.

 Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance. Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen and is causally linked to 7 types of cancer, which include oesophagus, liver, colorectal, and breast cancers. It is found that each year alcohol consumption is associated with 740 000 new cancer cases.

Physical inactivity

Physical inactivity which means lack of any physical activity is a major concern for the population today. People don't want to be involved in any sort of exercise or sports that makes them fit and active. 

Dietary factors

Eating clean and healthy food is a myth in today's modern world. People often pick up ready-made foods that are not healthy or good for the body in any way. People often suffer from many diseases by eating junk foods which in the long term invites cancer.

Read Also: Importance Of Doctors

Obesity or overweight

Individuals suffering from overweight or obesity are often at a higher risk of contracting many types of cancer like oesophagus, colorectal, breast, endometrial and kidney.

Generally, it is said that overweight people often tend to attract several types of diseases that may be harmful in the long term. But even being overweight 
linked to many types of cancer such as oesophagus, colorectal, breast, endometrial and kidney. A healthy diet and physical activity are the most important solutions for this issue faced by many individuals. Furthermore, it is seen that too much body weight was responsible for 3.4% of cancers in 2012, including 110,000 cases of breast cancer per year.

Infections

Infections also play a crucial role in developing cancer in the body,
several infections like hepatitis and human papillomavirus (HPV) considered a crucial factor for up to 25% of cancer cases, especially in lower and middle-income countries

Vaccines are discovered to be safe from hepatitis B virus and some types of HPV, which can further reduce the risk of liver and cervical cancers, respectively.

Environmental pollution

It is observed that the pollution in the air we breathe has caused up to 4.2 million premature deaths in the world, among which 6 per cent were lung cancer deaths.

Occupational carcinogens

Occupational issues can lead to death causing cancer cases. Occupational carcinogens can even develop lung cancer in the body such as mesothelioma, and bladder cancer. Mesothelioma ( cancer of the outer lining of the lung or chest cavity ) is caused by work-related exposure to asbestos.

Radiation

Radiation can also be dangerous for an individual, for instance, exposure to several types of ionizing radiation can increase the risk of various types of malignancy including leukaemia and several solid tumours. The risks of cancer increase when the exposure occurs at a very young age and even when the exposure amount is higher. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and in particular solar radiation, is carcinogenic to humans, causing all major types of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma.