Cancer Prevention Tips
Ways to Prevent Cancer
Getting good medical
advice and understanding
breast cancer are just a few ways to help prevent
breast cancer. Knowing the medical
symptoms of breast
cancer and staying healthy is key.
Prevention is defined as the reduction of cancer mortality
via reduction in the incidence of cancer. This can be accomplished
by avoiding a carcinogen or altering its metabolism; pursuing lifestyle
or dietary practices that modify cancer-causing factors or genetic
predispositions; and/or medical intervention (chemoprevention) to
successfully treat preneoplastic lesions.
Much of the promise for cancer prevention comes from
observational epidemiologic studies that show associations between
modifiable life style factors or environmental exposures and specific
cancers.
Evidence is now emerging from randomized controlled
trials designed to test whether interventions suggested by the epidemiologic
studies, as well as leads based on laboratory research, result in
reduced cancer incidence and mortality.
Additional examples of modifiable cancer risk factors
include alcohol consumption (associated with increased risk of oral,
esophageal, breast, and other cancers), physical inactivity (associated
with increased risk of colon, breast, and possibly other cancers),
and being overweight (associated with colon, breast, endometrial,
and possibly other cancers).
Based on epidemiologic evidence, it is now thought
that avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, being physically active,
and maintaining recommended body weight, may all contribute to reductions
in risk of certain cancers; however, compared with tobacco exposure,
the magnitude of effect is modest or small and the strength of evidence
is often weaker.
Other lifestyle and environmental factors known to
affect cancer risk (either beneficially or detrimentally) include
certain sexual and reproductive practices, the use of exogenous estrogens,
exposure to ionizing radiation and ultraviolet radiation, certain
occupational and chemical exposures, and infectious agents.
Food and nutrient intake have been examined in relation
to many types of cancer. Fruit and vegetable consumption have generally
been found in epidemiologic studies to be associated with reduced
risk for a number of different cancers; however, it is not currently
known which specific components of fruits and vegetables are responsible
for the observed associations or if healthy diets are simply associated
with other beneficial interventions, e.g., exercise.
Contrary to expectation, randomized trials found no
benefit of beta-carotene supplementation in reducing lung cancer incidence
and mortality; risk of lung cancer was statistically significantly
increased in smokers in the beta-carotene arms of 2 of the trials.
Similarly, randomized controlled trials have found
no reduction in risk of subsequent adenomatous polyps of the colon
in individuals who have had polyps resected taking dietary fiber supplements
compared with those receiving much lower amounts of supplemental wheat
bran fiber.
On the other hand, there is evidence from at least
1 randomized controlled trial that calcium supplementation does modestly
reduce risk of adenoma recurrence. The "chemoprevention
database" gives results of all published randomized controlled
trials.
Consumption of red meat and inadequate folic acid
intake have also been associated with increased risk of colon cancer.
A large randomized trial is currently underway to
investigate whether men taking daily selenium or vitamin E or both
experience a reduced incidence of prostate cancer in comparison to
men taking placebo pills.
Daily use of tamoxifen, a selective estrogen receptor
modulator, for up to 5 years, has been demonstrated to reduce the
risk of developing breast cancer in high-risk women by about 50%.
Cis-retinoic acid also has been shown to reduce risk
of second primary tumors among patients with primary cancers of the
head and neck.
Finasteride, an alpha-reductase inhibitor, has been
shown to lower the risk of prostate cancer.
Other examples of drugs that show promise for chemoprevention
include COX-2 inhibitors (which inhibit the cyclooxygenase enzymes
involved in the synthesis of proinflammatory prostaglandins).
Considerable research effort is now devoted to the
development of vaccines to prevent infection by oncogenic agents,
and to potential venues for gene therapy for individuals with genetic
mutations or polymorphisms that put them at high risk of cancer.
Meanwhile, genetic testing for high-risk individuals,
with enhanced surveillance or prophylactic surgery for those who test
positive, is already available for certain types of cancer, including
breast and colon cancers.
Source: Wikipedia
