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Can I do something in my life to avoid this dreadful disease? Most of us would love to know how to prevent cancer completely. Unfortunately, no matter what we each do, no one can completely eliminate their risk for cancer of one type or another. Cancer is a fact of life. However, although zero risk is not a reality, there are many things that most of us can do to minimize our risk for developing many types of cancer. All it takes is thinking about it and deciding to take control of your fate, making important changes which can positively impact your health and your risk for diseases. Some of the choices we make can help reduce our risk of getting cancer in the first place, while others help to ensure that, if we do get cancer, that the cancer has the least impact on our bodies and lives as possible. Both are versions of what doctors call cancer prevention. The two most important types of prevention of disease are termed primary and secondary prevention. Both can be used to help minimize your chances of cancer getting the best of you. Primary Prevention: The easiest form of cancer prevention to understand, primary prevention is simply steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting cancer in the first place. There are things we all can do that will decrease our chances of getting many forms of cancer. Cancers are caused by mutations, damage to genetic material (DNA) in our cells. There are several things that increase the occurrence mutations, including advancing age, genetic factors (ethnicity, family history, etc.), environmental toxins, and habits that expose us to toxins (smoking, drinking alcohol, etc.). These things that are known to increase ones risk for cancer are known as risk factors. The more risk factors one has for a given cancer, the higher their chance of developing that cancer in their lifetime. These risk factors can be divided in two, into what we call non-modifiable risk factors and modifiable risk factors. Non-modifiable risk factors are those which we cannot change. They include family history, ethnicity, gender, age, and others. Modifiable risk factors are risk factors which can be actively changed. Some important modifiable risk factors for various types of cancer include smoking, chewing tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, physical inactivity, low fruit and vegetable consumption, and unsafe sex. These have each been associated with increased risk for one or more types of cancer. Some, like smoking, profoundly increase the risk for many different forms of cancer as well as other diseases. Risk factors are usually additive, meaning that the more risk factors you have, the higher your risk. Because we cannot change our non-modifiable risk factors, eliminating modifiable risk factors is our best chance to significantly decrease our chances of developing many types of cancer. Therefore, primary prevention is simply making changes to your life, your habits, your activity and
your diet which reduce your modifiable risk factors. Secondary Prevention: Secondary prevention does not help prevent cancer. Instead, it helps to make early diagnosis of cancer so that it can be treated at a stage when treatment has a chance of being effective. We all hear that there is no cure for cancer. While it is true that there is no general cure for all cancer, there are many forms of cancer which can be effectively treated if diagnosed early. Therefore, for many types of cancer, your chances of surviving cancer are greatest if cancer is caught and treated early. Secondary prevention aims to do exactly that. It doesn't prevent cancer from occurring in the first place like primary prevention, it helps prevent cancer from becoming so advanced that it significantly impacts your life, causing disability and/or death. So what is it exactly? Secondary prevention usually entails screening procedures which help to catch early disease in their early stages. If we do not pay attention to our bodies and what they are telling us, we may ignore signs of disease until it is too late to do anything about it. By screening, we can catch things early. Common examples of secondary prevention are mammograms for breast cancer, prostate exams and prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for prostate cancer, and colonoscopy for colon cancer. While there are not simple screening tests that are recommended for all types of cancer, these help to detect some of the most common types. For individuals at high risk for other types of cancer other forms of screening may be recommended. For example, smokers may benefit from periodic chest x-rays or other exams to detect signs of lung cancer. Again, these exams do not prevent cancer from its early stages of development, but they help doctors to catch the early stages before they would have otherwise been diagnosed. Treatment of early cancer at these stages is often much more effective than treatment of more advanced disease. Between primary prevention and secondary prevention we can all minimize the chances that cancer will take control of our life. While no one can have a zero risk for cancer, each of us has the power to make a positive change in our health and reduce our risks. So take stock of yourself and your risks. Make definitive plans to change aspects of your life in a positive way. Cancer prevention is not perfect, but it is real and works if you fight hard to implement it in your life.
J. Dusick is the editor of Cancer Information Source, at http://www.cancer-information-source.com, your guide to cancer and specific types of cancer, providing an in-depth introduction that is understandable even if you do not have a background in science or medicine.
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