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Can Cancer Be Prevented?
Confirmed
In Short: A recent study indicates that nearly 40 percent of cancers globally could be prevented through lifestyle modifications.
A study by Fink and colleagues, published in the Adventist Review, reveals that more than one-third of cancers worldwide are linked to modifiable risk factors.
Of these, about 7.1 million cases (37.8 percent) are attributed to preventable causes, such as tobacco use, infections, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, obesity, physical inactivity, and environmental exposures.
The study highlights that infections, particularly in lower-income settings, contribute significantly to preventable cancers.
Lifestyle-related cancers are on the rise in middle-income countries, leading to a pattern known as the 'cancer transition,' where cancers like breast, colorectal, and prostate become more prevalent.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable cancer, accounting for about 15 percent of all cancer cases globally.
In Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and Colorectal Cancer Canada are urging provinces to lower colorectal cancer screening ages to 45, citing the importance of early detection.
Ontario has already lowered its screening age, following Prince Edward Island's lead, with Cancer Care Ontario reporting that nine out of ten people can be cured when colorectal cancer is detected early.
Trish Riley, diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer at age 51, emphasizes the importance of early screening, expressing concern for those in provinces without early screening options.
The Canadian Cancer Society believes that regular stool tests for colorectal cancer can significantly lower the risk of dying from the disease.
Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is exploring new approaches to reduce debilitating side effects of cancer treatment, offering hope for future advancements.
These findings underscore the critical role of lifestyle changes and early screening in preventing and managing cancer.
What this adds
The study's findings add to the growing body of evidence supporting the link between lifestyle and cancer prevention.
The research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center provides a promising new direction for cancer treatment side effects, though more studies are needed.
What's confirmed
- A study by Fink and colleagues, published in the Adventist Review, reveals that more than one-third of cancers worldwide are linked to modifiable risk factors.
- Of these, about 7.1 million cases (37.8 percent) are attributed to preventable causes, such as tobacco use, infections, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, obesity, physical inactivity, and environmental exposures.
- The study highlights that infections, particularly in lower-income settings, contribute significantly to preventable cancers.
- Lifestyle-related cancers are on the rise in middle-income countries, leading to a pattern known as the 'cancer transition,' where cancers like breast, colorectal, and prostate become more prevalent.
- Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable cancer, accounting for about 15 percent of all cancer cases globally.
- In Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and Colorectal Cancer Canada are urging provinces to lower colorectal cancer screening ages to 45, citing the importance of early detection.
- Ontario has already lowered its screening age, following Prince Edward Island's lead, with Cancer Care Ontario reporting that nine out of ten people can be cured when colorectal cancer is detected early.
- Trish Riley, diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer at age 51, emphasizes the importance of early screening, expressing concern for those in provinces without early screening options.
- The Canadian Cancer Society believes that regular stool tests for colorectal cancer can significantly lower the risk of dying from the disease.
- Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is exploring new approaches to reduce debilitating side effects of cancer treatment, offering hope for future advancements.
- These findings underscore the critical role of lifestyle changes and early screening in preventing and managing cancer.
What's still developing
- Question: I live in a developing (lower income) country, and we dread to hear the word “cancer.” We don’t have the modern cancer treatments that wealthy countries have.
- Can lifestyle decrease the amount of cancer in our country?
- Answer: Yes—lifestyle can decrease the incidence of cancer.
- Cancer is one of the most feared diagnoses worldwide.
- Yet there is an important and hopeful truth: Many cancers are preventable.
- Modern research, including the recent landmark study “Global and Regional Cancer Burden Attributable to Modifiable Risk Factors,” by H.
- Colorectal Cancer Canada president Barry Stein says colorectal cancer is on the rise among younger adults and can be prevented if polyps in the colon or rectum are detected early and removed.
- Both Stein and the Canadian Cancer Society are urging the other provinces and territories to follow P.E.I.'s and Ontario's lead, saying that the change will save lives as well as health-care costs.
- "We should all be able to have the same advantages to prevent the disease, regardless of the province or territory that you live in," said Stein, who endured multiple surgeries after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 41 in the 1990s.
- Stein said all the provinces are at various stages of looking at the numbers and considering the change for people with an average risk of colorectal cancer.
- Ontario lowers screening age for colorectal cancer to 45 Start screening for colorectal cancers earlier, Canadian Cancer Society urges Someone is considered at higher risk if one parent, sibling or child had colorectal cancer before age 60 or if two family members had it at any age.
- "My first question that came out of my mouth was, 'Am I going to die?' It's a reality that you're hit with very quickly in those first few hours, weeks and months," said Riley, now 55, who lives in Ottawa.