Do you have questions men's health related?
Please send them!
If you have a question related to men's health, please fill the form bellow.
1. It is a must to provide a valid email, unless you want your questions to be ignored.
We won't make your email public, but we like to talk with live persons.
2. To protect
your identity, take care the name you fill. We make public your name exactly as it is.
|
Public release date: 18 March 2008
[
]
Lifestyle should be the key to cancer prevention
According to a recent report of American Cancer Society (ACS) up to half of cancer deaths could be avoided with lifestyle changes. The report revealed that as many as 50 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented with lifestyle changes, maintaining a healthy weight, such as quitting smoking and getting regularly screened for certain malignancies.
1. Healthy weight
A recent study published in New England Journal of Medicine found that the heaviest people had the highest risk of death -- 52 percent higher for men and 62 percent for women -- compared to people of normal weight. A healthy lifestyle is associated with all kinds of good things, but people have an incomplete figure of diet's impact on cancer. According to ACS, excess weight, lack of exercise and poor nutrition are likely at the root of as many as 188,277 cancer deaths annually.
The American Cancer Society recommends eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity at least five days a week. Walking and biking are examples of moderate activity, while aerobics, jogging, weight training, fast bicycling and swimming are considered vigorous activity.
An expert oncologist suggests that too much alcohol is also linked with some cancers, particularly tumors of the esophagus, mouth and pharynx. The ACS recommendation is that women should drink no more than one alcoholic beverage a day and men no more than two alcoholic drinks a day.
2. Smoking
Dr. Neil Hayes from University of North Carolina School of Medicine, a medical oncologist specializing in lung and head and neck cancers, revealed that "Most of my patients are smokers, so it's rare I see someone truly surprised by the diagnosis. But I don't think they fully think through the risk associated with smoking."
Speaking about risk of cancer, smoking is far and away the leading cause of preventable cancer deaths. Statistics say that in the United States, nearly one-third of all cancer deaths -- more than 170,000 Americans -- each year are related to tobacco use. Yet, almost one in four American adults still smoking and about 22 percent of teens are still lighting up.
Al experts agree that not smoking is the single most important thing people can do to lower risk of cancer.
3. Regularly screening
There is a lifesaving matter of screening. Some cancer screenings, such as those for skin, breast, cervical and colon cancers, can actually detect precancerous changes that may eventually lead to malignancies.
For instance, the ACS estimated that by regular screening as many as half of the 55,000 colon cancer deaths that occur each year could be eliminated. With a proper colonoscopy a doctor can find and remove polyps before they turn into cancer.
Some other cancer screenings, such as those for skin, breast and cervical cancers, can actually detect precancerous conditions that may eventually lead to malignancies.
|
|
