Many cancers are turning out to be do-it-yourself diseases. We promote them by chronic exposure to certain environmental factors. What we eat and drink, where we live and work, and what we breathe may well determine whether we become a cancer statistic.
Can people bring on their own cancers?
Medical science continues to make strides toward earlier detection and improved treatments for many cancers. But these efforts are largely after the fact. The sad truth is that the overall incidence rates for many adult cancers have actually gone up. Furthermore, cancer now claims one in four American lives. It’s becoming increasingly obvious: what we eat and drink, where we live and work, and what we breathe can greatly influence whether or not we get cancer.
We can reverse the trend. How? By simply taking the precautions that we already know about. This would probably prevent 70 to 80 percent of the cancers that afflict Americans today.
Won’t people do just about anything to avoid such a terrifying disease?
They would do almost anything, it seems, except change their lifestyles. Take lung cancer (the cancer that kills more men and women in the United States than any other), for example. Ever since the Surgeon General’s report in 1964, we’ve known that lung cancer is directly related to tobacco smoking. It’s true that millions have quit smoking, yet every fourth adult in North America still smokes! In addition, some 90 percent of the cancers of the lung, lip, mouth, tongue, throat, and esophagus could be prevented if people simply stopped using tobacco. And it would also prevent half the bladder cancers.
Are some cancers related to diet?
In men, the second and third most frequently occurring cancers are those of the prostate and colon. For women it’s cancers of the breast and colon.
Extensive evidence links nearly 50 percent of these cancers to overnutrition—too much fat, too much animal protein and too much weight.
What about the many chemicals that find their way into our food supply?
Carcinogens (cancer-producing chemicals) are a concern—especially with the array of additives, preservatives, flavor enhancers, pesticides and other chemicals that we use in producing and marketing food. However, only 2 percent of all cancers can be reliably linked to these substances. In contrast, evidence of the connection between cancer and such dietary factors as fiber, animal protein and fat grows stronger every day.
Compared with diets around 1900, the average American now eats one third more fat, twice as much animal protein and one third less fiber. In areas of the world in which fat and animal protein intake is low and fiber consumption is high, the incidence of colon, breast, and prostate cancers are negligible.
However, in countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where diets are low in fiber and high in fat, and animal protein, the rates for these kinds of cancers are much higher.