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We hear about cancer a lot: people getting it, people beating it, people dying. The disease is among the leading causes of death worldwide, and America's National Cancer Institute (NCI) has revealed that there were almost 20 million new cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths worldwide in 2022.
By 2050, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 33 million, warns the Institute, adding that the number of cancer-related deaths is set to climb to 18.2 million.
But what exactly is this dreaded disease? Well, according the NCI, cancer is when some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.
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Also, I’m a big fan of sunscreen. Surgeries to remove skin cancer can do some gnarly things to your face.
"Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells," explains the site. Human cells grow and multiply to form new cells as the body needs them. But sometimes things go wrong and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply when they shouldn’t.
"These cells may form tumors, which are lumps of tissue. Tumors can be cancerous or not cancerous (benign)," the NCI says. Another term for cancerous tumors is malignant tumors. And while many cancers form solid tumors, cancers of the blood, like leukemias, generally don't do this.
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All this to say I still got breast cancer at the ripe age of 36 so sometimes you just can’t do much about bad luck.
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You might have heard the word "metastasis." This is when cancerous tumors spread into, or invade, nearby tissues and travel to distant places in the body to form new tumors.
"Benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. When removed, benign tumors usually don’t grow back, whereas cancerous tumors sometimes do," the NCI site explains. "Benign tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. Some can cause serious symptoms or be life-threatening, such as benign tumors in the brain."
So, who is at risk of getting cancer? Keep scrolling to find out...
#7
Things I would never do:
-Smoke (increases risk for lung, breast, pancreatic, colon cancers and more)
-Alcohol (there is no "safe" amount - increases risk for colon, pancreatic, breast cancers and more - I tell my patients to limit it to weddings and funerals if they can)
-Aspartame (in many diet sodas, may increase risk for colon cancers)
-Eat too much red meat (no more than 2 servings weekly on average, increases risk for colon cancer)
-controversial: join the armed services in the US. The number of people who developed cancer because of something they were exposed to while serving is just mind-blowing (camp lejeune, asbestos in the navy, the tar pits, agent orange, etc etc etc)
Always recommended:
-keep your primary care informed about your family history of cancer (and other conditions, but that's not our focus here) because it may give you access to earlier or enhanced screening
-Screenings (mammogram, colonoscopies, prostate, skin)
-Exercise (30 min of cardiovascular exercise three times a week is correlated with a lower breast cancer risk)
-keep a healthy body weight (too much and the risk for uterine, colon, breast cancer and more increases)
-fiber (reduces risk of colon cancer)
-sunscreen (basal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer in the world)
-talk to your doctor if you're experiencing any ongoing unexplained symptoms, especially weight loss, fatigue, blood rectally or unexpected vaginally, pain, new lumps/bumps/skin lesions, new/changing moles, ongoing diarrhea/constipation (two week rule can help distinguish a random symptom from something that's more concerning) - I like to tell patients it's probably not cancer, but with your family history, talk to your doctor and make sure.
My biggest advice: do what you can to improve your lifestyle and do the screenings to hopefully catch diagnoses that are out of our control.
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According to the NCI, cancer is a genetic disease, meaning it's caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, how they grow and they divide. The site explains that these genetic changes happen for various reasons.
It can be due to errors that occur as cells divide, or because of damage to DNA caused by harmful substances in the environment (like tobacco, alcohol or the ultraviolet rays from the sun). But cancer can also be inherited from our parents.
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My wife just found this out the hard way. And she was shocked that she was getting the wrong kind of scan every year. Now it’s probably too late for her.
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"The body normally eliminates cells with damaged DNA before they turn cancerous," notes the NCI. "But the body’s ability to do so goes down as we age. This is part of the reason why there is a higher risk of cancer later in life."
Research based on data taken between 2018 and 2021 paints a grim picture, revealing that around 38.9% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. And the NCI says that in 2025 alone, an estimated 14,690 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 will be diagnosed with cancer. 1,650 are expected to die.
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"Prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers account for an estimated 48% of all cancers diagnosed in men in 2025," reads the NCI's "Cancer Statistics" page. "For women, the three most common cancers are breast, lung, and colorectal, and they will account for an estimated 51% of all new cancer diagnoses in women in 2025."
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According to the NCI's “What Is Cancer?" report, cancer rates are highest in countries where the populations have the highest life expectancy, education level, and standard of living.
"But for some cancer types, such as cervical cancer, the reverse is true," it says. "And the incidence rate is highest in countries in which the population ranks low on these measures."
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Tobacco (never)
Sunscreen (always)
Alcohol (moderation, less is better)
A huge fan of the HPV vaccination for both males and females. So many preventable cervical and head/neck cancers.
Get recommended screenings and if you have an inherited predisposition talk to your physician about an alternative screening schedule.
Try to move your body and eat nourishing foods.
Everything else is pretty debatable. Live your life and if something feels or looks weird get it checked out.
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