Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the UK, accounting for almost 30% of all cases of Mortality. Even though this statistic is grim, it gets grimmer, according to some authorities the incidence of Cancer in the UK is set to rise by 30% by the year 2030. This simply means that 1 in 3 of us will develop Cancer at some point in our life. With those odds I would take a serious look at how to avoid developing Cancer, as chances are if you don’t, you’re almost guaranteed to be holding a losing bet.
Despite all of the ostentatious headlines claiming new ‘cures’ for Cancer a lot of it is smoke and mirrors. ‘Cure’ when used in the Cancer arena, doesn’t have quite the same definition as we usually attach to the word. Being ‘cured’ of Cancer depends on a very short timeline of 5 years in most statistics. Usually in medicine, a disease is considered cured when it’s been successfully treated and does not return. The concept of ‘cure’ is difficult to apply to cancer because undetected cancer cells can sometimes remain in the body after treatment, causing the cancer to return later (known as a relapse). Many cancers are considered ‘cured’ when there is no cancer detected five years after diagnosis. However, recurrence after five years is still possible.
So you have to be careful when reading about advances in treatments as they are often using this ‘5 year survival rate’ definition to present their results. In most cases it’s not the fact that the Cancer was treated any better, it’s actually down to earlier diagnosis. New methods of diagnosis are allowing doctors to discover Cancer earlier which skews the data in this context to show improved survival rates. This doesn’t mean treatment is becoming much more effective than the previous renditions of ‘Cut, Burn and Poison’.
These treatments obviously serve a purpose once Cancer has developed and become established in the body. Although not pleasant, they do provide the body, temporarily, a fighting chance to fend off the disease. However, if the treatment is successful you are still left in the same position, albeit on slightly shakier footing, as you were before you developed the Cancer. That is you need to prevent relapse or initiation of the disease.
Prevention is the only way we’ll ever have a chance of fighting Cancer. But in order to do so you need to know the causes of Cancer. To do this you need to separate two very important variables; those being Genetic and Environmental, which can be thought of as Nature vs. Nurture. According to current statistics, overall the genetic influence on Cancer is approximately 10-20%, with environmental factors weighing in between 80-90%. Easy to see which area we should direct our attention. You also have to remember that the environmental factors also influence the genetic component, so in reality the weighting should be even higher due to this interaction. If you want to stay Cancer free, you need to look at what you do with your body (lifestyle) and where you do it (Environment).
Let’s have a look at the current recognised risk factors that influence Cancer development.
-Smoking 33%
-Overweight/ Obesity (and Sedentary Lifestyle) 25%
-Nutrient Deficiencies/ Diet 16%
-Viruses/ Infections 7%
-Pollution (Food, Air, Water) 5%
-Excessive Sunlight Exposure 2%
-Drugs (Prescription) 2%
-Drugs (Illicit) and Excess Alcohol 1%
-Radon Gas 1%
-Radiation 1%
-Genetic Defects 2%
-Unknown 5%
There you have it, you now know the odds. Most of us are pretty astute when it comes to betting, so it’s fairly obvious where you should place your stake. Smoking comes in first at 33% on its own. It will also contribute to other factors such as nutrient deficiency so the odds are actually higher. Overweight comes in next at a hefty 25%, another big player you’d want to eliminate to improve your odds. Combined with a poor diet, overweight and smoking account for almost 75% of all Cancer risks, it’s a no-brainer to avoid these sharks before turning your attention to the smaller fry.
The next biggest risk factor is from viruses and infections which cause 7% of all Cancers; this is how I developed Cancer. In actuality it’s probably because for years I was like a pot of milk constantly on the edge of boiling over. This chronic stress on my system lowered my immunity sufficiently to allow a virus to get a foothold, and that’s in an active non-smoker, with a very low level of bodyfat. This is one of the reasons I place such importance on lowering your stress levels, learn from my highly-strung mistake and don’t allow it to happen to you.
Even if you just avoid a few of the risks, if you choose the right ones, it actually impacts on the others. So by not smoking, remaining lean, eating a nutritious diet, learning to manage stress and avoiding pollution you can build up a protective defence against 85%+ of all Cancers.
Avoiding the big guns is the simplest and most effective strategy I can give you in avoiding this unpleasant disease. After you’ve eliminated the Cannons, all you have to repel are the pea-shooters.
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