Experts say, roughly 40 percent of cancers are preventable. Here are
what Heather Eliassen, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and other researchers suggest are ways to
lower your risk.
1.
Stay away from tobacco.
2. Limit
alcohol to 2 servings a day for men, or 1 for women. The
less you drink, the better. “Alcohol may increase susceptibility to DNA
damage, contribute to oxidative stress, and increase levels of estrogen,”
explains Eliassen. Carotenoid-rich green, orange, or red vegetables and
fruit, on the other hand may protect against specifically breast cancer, even
women at high risk. “Carotenoids
are potent antioxidants,” says Eliassen, “but other bioactive compounds in
those fruits and vegetables may also lower risk.”
3. Lose
or don’t gain excess weight.
4. Limit
red and processed meats. Amanda Cross’s research
(professor of cancer epidemiology at Imperial College London) showed that
feeding people red meat can create carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds in the gut.
This was just one piece of evidence that led the International Agency for
Research on Cancer to conclude that processed meat like bacon, ham, sausage,
and lunch meats are a human carcinogen while unprocessed red meat is a “probable”
human carcinogen.
5. Fill
half your plate with vegetables or fruit.
6. Shoot
for 20-40 minutes a day of exercise that speeds up your heart rate. Even a
brisk walk will do.
7. Apply
broad spectrum sunscreen (SPF 30+) every 2 hours that you are in the sun. Avoid
tanning beds.
8. Anyone
aged 9-26 should get HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines to prevent cancers of
the cervix, throat, vagina, penis, and more.
For more information, go to cancer.gov (the
National Cancer Institute), or AICR.org (the American Institute for Cancer
Research). (Some information found in this article is available
on https://www.cspinet.org, Center For Science in the Public Interest.)
