| A complex mix of factors related to environment, | | | | don't drink or eat much meat but do consume a diet |
| lifestyle, and heredity plays a role in the causation of | | | | rich in fruits and vegetables, have the lowest |
| cancer. For example, 80 percent of all cancers are | | | | incidence of cancer in the U.S. population. This |
| related to the use of tobacco products, to what we | | | | protective effect is probably due to the antioxidants |
| eat and drink, and to our exposure to radiation, | | | | and folic acid present in fruits and vegetables, which |
| asbestos, and some of the other cancer-causing | | | | neutralize damage to chromosomal DNA caused by |
| agents. There's not much you can do about your | | | | oxygen-free radicals. |
| genes, but several other key risk factors are under | | | | 4. A high-fat diet |
| your control. If you identify them and make the | | | | This type of diet is associated with cancer of the |
| necessary changes in your lifestyle early enough, you | | | | breast, uterus, and prostate. The guilty foods are |
| can substantially decrease your chances of | | | | eggs, fatty meat, high-fat salad dressings and |
| developing a malignancy. Here are some of the risk | | | | cooking oils, and diary products such as whole milk, |
| factors you can do something about: | | | | butter, and most cheeses. |
| 1. Tobacco | | | | Blueberries have a higher antioxidant capacity than |
| Tobacco is the most preventable cause of mortality | | | | any other fruit or vegetable. They are said to |
| in this country. Regardless of whether you chew it, | | | | protect against cancer by virtue of their anthocyanins |
| snuff it, smoke it, or inhale someone else's exhaust, | | | | and other natural phytochemicals. |
| tobacco is a killer. In the United States, it is | | | | 5. A high consumption of soy-based food |
| responsible for 85 to 90 percent of all lung cancers, | | | | Soy-based food such as tofu, may also protect |
| and for one-third of all deaths related to other | | | | against cancer because of the genistein content. |
| cancers. The magnitude of the risk depends on the | | | | Genistein suppresses the production of proteins that |
| number and kind of cigarettes you have smoked and | | | | cancer cells need in order to keep growing. In China |
| for how long. A pack-a-day smoker is ten times | | | | and Japan, where people eat lots of soy, there is |
| more vulnerable than a non-smoker. It is never too | | | | much less cancer of the breast, colon, and prostate |
| late to quit. After you do, your cancer risk declines | | | | than in this country. Since men with prostate cancer |
| gradually each year. | | | | generally have lower blood levels of selenium than |
| 2. Chronic alcohol abuse | | | | their normal counterparts, selenium supplements may |
| This type of abuse can cause cancer of the liver, as | | | | protect against this malignancy. |
| well as of the mouth, throat, and larynx, especially in | | | | 6. Some supplements |
| combination with tobacco. It may also raise the risk | | | | Some supplements seem to protect against certain |
| of breast cancer. If you are going to imbibe, limit | | | | cancers. For instance, colon polyps and cancer do not |
| yourself to the equivalent of two drinks a day - and | | | | recur as often in persons who regularly take |
| stop smoking. | | | | multivitamins, calcium supplements, and vitamin E. A |
| 3. Diet | | | | diet rich in fruits and vegetables is protective against |
| People who shun fruits and vegetables have roughly | | | | cancer, presumably because of the beta-carotene |
| twice the incidence of most types of cancer - lung, | | | | content. So take your mother's advice: Eat all the |
| larynx, oral cavity, stomach, colon, and rectum, | | | | fruits and vegetables you can - and forget the pills. |
| bladder, pancreas, cervix, and ovary - than those | | | | 7. Don't have X-rays |
| with the highest intake. Yet only 9 percent of | | | | Don't have X-rays any more frequently than is |
| Americans heed the recommendations of the National | | | | absolutely necessary. I no longer take annual routine |
| Cancer Institute and the National Research Council to | | | | chest films on myself. Some dentists are too |
| eat two servings of fruit and three portions of | | | | enthusiastic about X rays. Make sure you really need |
| vegetables a day. Seventh-Day Adventists, who | | | | them before acquiescing. |