Cancer Prevention
There are numerous studies that determine risk factors for cancer and use this information for disease prevention and early diagnosis. Few risk factors have been scientifically proven, so preventing cancer basically means promoting health with a healthy lifestyle that helps reduce the risk.
About 90% of cancers are related to the environment and unhealthy habits, rather than genetic causes, as is commonly thought.
Cancer prevention areas under study:
- Ways to avoid or control behaviours or activities that are known to increase the risk of cancer
- Changes in diet and lifestyle
- Finding pre-cancerous lesions
- Cancer-prevention medications
It is important for everyone to pay regularly visits to their family doctor and follow a routine of monitoring their health in line with their age and lifestyle. Your doctor will be able to assess any changes or symptoms that warrant further studies or preventive treatment.
Each individual is the main player in cancer prevention, due to the choices they make in their day-to-day lives.
There is a lot of information about us in our genes and some of this information is related to the risk of getting cancer. This genetic information can be added to our behaviours. In other words, if we have a genetic risk and add a behavioural risk, we increase our overall risk of cancer.