Six Proactive Steps to Lower Your Cancer Risk
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While there are some factors that raise your risk of being diagnosed with cancer that you cannot control, including genetic mutations, older age, your family and personal medical history, gender, a previous cancer diagnosis, prior radiation treatment, and race/ethnicity, there are also a number of proactive actions you can take to decrease your risk of developing some of the most common types of cancer.
Researchers found an association between 40% of all new cancer cases diagnosed in the U.S. during the study and a range of modifiable risk factors, suggesting that lifestyle changes and getting recommended immunizations against infections that can cause cancer, such as HPV and hepatitis B, can have a significant impact on your lifetime cancer risk. To create your own personalized cancer prevention plan, talk with your healthcare provider and your health advisor, who can help you build a personalized cancer prevention plan based on evidence-based information and lifestyle modifications.
What should you include in a cancer prevention plan?
The building blocks of your cancer prevention plan will depend on which lifestyle factors affect you. In general, these changes can have a positive effect on not only your risk of developing certain types of cancer, but also on your overall health.
- Do not use tobacco products. Tobacco, especially smoking cigarettes, is the leading preventable cause of 17 types of cancer. Tobacco smoke contains 70 chemicals that can cause cancer. Some tobacco leaves also contain radioactive materials from the soil where it was grown, as well as from fertilizer.Beyond lung cancer, smoking has been linked to the development of kidney, ureter, bladder, cervical, ovarian, head and neck, esophageal, stomach, liver, pancreatic, colon, and blood cancer, specifically acute myeloid leukemia. Smokeless tobacco, such as nicotine pouches, chewing tobacco, and dissolvable tobacco, increases the risk of developing head and neck, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer. Between 80 and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to smoking as well as 30 percent of all cancer-related deaths.
Avoiding or quitting the use of tobacco products will not only lower your risk of a range of cancers, it will also decrease your risk of developing other serious chronic conditions including COPD, asthma, and coronary artery disease.
- Choose a healthier diet and limit or avoid alcohol. Processed meats and red meat, especially meat that is grilled, charred, or cooked at high temperatures, has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, especially colorectal cancer. It is also potentially associated with an increased risk of cancers of the lung, prostate, esophagus, and pancreas. In one meta-analysis, high levels of red meat consumption were associated with a 48% increase in the risk of liver cancer. The recommendation is to eat no more than 12 to 18 ounces of red meat per week and to not eat processed meats like bacon, ham, salami, and hot dogs.Healthier food choices include eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes or plant proteins, fiber-containing foods, whole grains, and nuts and seeds. It’s also wise to choose healthier fats like olive oil, avocado, and fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and mackerel and limit ultra processed foods like sugar sweetened beverages, chips, and mass-produced baked goods.
Excessive consumption of alcohol is also associated with an increase in the risk of colorectal, breast (especially estrogen receptor positive cancer), esophageal, head and neck, and liver cancer. Limiting alcohol or choosing not to drink alcohol can mitigate this risk.
- Make regular physical activity part of your routine. Taking part in regular moderate to vigorous physical activity can reduce your cancer risk as well as your risk of heart disease, some musculoskeletal problems, diabetes, and obesity. One study linked getting five hours per week of moderate intensity physical activity with the potential to avoid 46,000 new cancer diagnoses per year.For adults, the recommended weekly guidelines for physical activity are 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity plus two or more days of strength training. Of course, consult your primary care provider before starting a new exercise regimen, especially if you’re living with a chronic condition or injury. What constitutes moderate and vigorous exercise? Moderate exercise would include activities like brisk walking and water aerobics, while vigorous activity would include running or biking up and down hills.
- Reach and maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese can not only increase your risk of chronic health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and joint problems, it has also been linked to an increase in cancer risk. Excess weight is associated with 7.6% of all cancer cases in the U.S. Cancers that have been associated with obesity include gallbladder cancer, thyroid cancer, ovarian cancer, some head and neck cancers, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, meningioma, and multiple myeloma.Both your primary care provider and your health advisor can help you create a plan to lose weight and maintain the loss through diet, exercise, and the use of weight loss medications when appropriate.
- Get recommended immunizations and screenings. There are recommended vaccines to prevent infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) and hepatitis B. Getting these vaccines can help lower your risk of being diagnosed with cervical, genital, squamous cell head and neck, and liver cancer.Getting recommended cancer screenings not only helps detect cancer earlier when it is often more treatable, it can also help prevent some types of cancer from developing. Removing precancerous polyps during a colonoscopy or irregular cells found during a cervical cancer screening are two examples.
- Protect your skin from UV radiation. UV radiation not only causes damage to the skin, it can also increase skin cancer risk. Sunlight is the main source of exposure to UV radiation, but sun lamps and tanning beds also expose your skin to UV rays. That said, most skin cancers are caused by excess exposure to sunlight.Using sunscreen every day, wearing clothing that covers your skin, including a hat and sunglasses that block UV rays, avoiding the sun’s strongest rays between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and not using tanning beds or sun lamps can all help protect your skin and reduce your skin cancer risk.
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For more information about how PinnacleCare’s Health Advisors can help with cancer prevention and much more, connect with us today.
Top 5 FAQs – Action Steps to Minimize Cancer Risk
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