Cancer Prevention

Recently, I've been seeing so many threads here about cancer, and I was wondering if there's anything I can do to help lessen my chances of getting it.

Obviously, I can imagine eating lots of fruit and veg, fibrous foods, ,nuts and seeds etc would help, but could anyone suggest anything else?

Reply 1

shirley7

11

For some cancers there are things you can do to minimise your chances of getting it e.g lung cancer - don't smoke, skin cancer - use sun cream, and for others such as Brain cancer i don't think there is anything you can do.

Reply 2

Eien

16

I'm not sure about cancer, but tomatoes are excellent for suppressing free radical cells which are responsable for body decay during ageing.

Reply 3

Debussy

1

not smoking... anyway, there's carcinogens just about everywhere nowadays... but you should remember that 1/3 of all people get cancer, and recently there's been a strong genetic link to cancer susceptibility, which you can't control...

Reply 4

aleathiel

16

cancer's the one thing ya just cant stop, maybe i'm cynical but currently 3 of my relatives have cancer, many more before have had different types of cancer so my chances are high especially with breast cancer which a lot of women in my family have had.

Reply 5

Ting-Ting

Caffeine decreases the risk of heart disease (if that helps!)

Not too sure about cancer but i agree with the free radicals Eien mentioned. Just eat loads of food that are full of antioxidants such as tomatoes and those 'suoer fruits' these days like black currants, pomegranate etc. Chocolate contains antioxidants too!

Reply 6

Pink Lady

1

Sometimes people in perfect health can develop Cancer out of the blue.
Some unhealthy people never do. So to an extent you can do nothing, but you can also in theory lesser your chances with some cancers by eating well, exercising, avoiding the sun, regular self-checking, and making sure that you aren't stressed!
Also, if there are occurances in your family of certain cancers, you can make sure that you are regularily screened or tested/monitored.

Reply 7

tbm

13

Just try and stay as healthy as you can, eat well, exercise, dont drink excessively, dont smoke, always use SPF in the sun and dont use sunbeds!! And women (and men too!) need to check regularly for lumps in the breast, also people should keep a check on their moles, that way any irregularities can be checked out earlier. Wont lessen your chances of getting it but at least you know what is 'normal' to your body and will be able to recognise any changes.

My dad had throat cancer a few years ago and he never smoked, never drinked, and was totally healthy up until then. So sometimes you can be perfectly healthy and still get cancer. Thats just the way life is.

Reply 8

wendizzle22

1

It's impossible to completely remove the risk of cancer. Cancer occurs when there is a build-up in the number of mutations in particular genes, such as those which would normally prevent damaged cells from making more (proliferating.)
As mentioned, you can avoid the things which can damage cells such as making sure you wear sun cream, avoiding excess alcohol, not smoking etc. However this will not completely remove the possibility it will happen :frown:

Reply 9

~Kirsty~

1

Eat antioxidants!!!

soo things like fruit and veg...and yes this includes tomatos.

Just stay healthy...eat well, exercise.

Reply 10

la fille danse

17

If you're female, get regular pap smears to prevent cervical cancer.

Reply 11

gas_panic!

12

You can't really prevent yourself getting cancer. It's all down to mutation lottery.

Reply 12

mademoiselle84

1

i heard regular excersise reduced you chances by quite a lot...i think the article i read was to do with women and breast cancer.

Reply 13

Will Grimes1

1

There are so many types i think you would be better of forgeting about it and just try to be healthy. There are so many precautions such as turning on a light suddenly apparently increases your chances of developing leukemia. There are hundreds of things like that that you could do but it doesnt mean you wouldnt get cancer. I think just try and enjoy your life then if you do get it you wont have any regrets.

Reply 14

kateykat

aleathiel

cancer's the one thing ya just cant stop, maybe i'm cynical but currently 3 of my relatives have cancer, many more before have had different types of cancer so my chances are high especially with breast cancer which a lot of women in my family have had.

Yeah there's only so much you can do to prevent it! My grandmother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 72 and my mum died of the same disease at the age of 51, there is a possible link between the two and since my mum died of the same disease at an earlier age then the risk for me has increased by about 15% or something. I have to see a genetic councellor when I'm in my thirties to discuss whether I am really at risk or not and whether I should then have a hysterectomy as a precautionary measure. It's surprising how much I don't worry about it, I kind of have the attitude of what will be will be. Also in the future there may be screening for more cancers. My mum was very healthy and did everything that in theory should reduce the risk of ovarian cancer (was on the pill for a long time, had children, ate properly, had plenty of exercise...) and yet for some reason she still fell ill. My dad's now just getting over bowel cancer but I strongly believe that he brought the disease upon himself. He's always eaten crap, has been near enough obese for his whole life and has rarely exercised. This is kind of bad news for me because I read somewhere that if there has been ovarian AND bowel cancer in the family then the chances of getting ovarian cancer increase even further. However since I haven't seen a genetic counsellor since he developed the disease I'm not entirely sure how true that is! I suggest that people just eat as healthily and exercise as much as possible, which is basically what everyone else has said. :smile:

Cancer Prevention

Related discussions

Articles for you