Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.
That said, I didn't realize "going outside with short hair and no hat" was a bad lifestyle choice until it was too late, so I'm posting here:
Hey fair skinned folks! Just wearing sunscreen IS NOT ENOUGH. Wear a hat if you're going to spend more than a short time outside! If you have a family history of skin cancer, ask your barber to keep an eye out for moles when you're getting your hair cut.
"Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said the report added to the 'now overwhelmingly strong evidence that our cancer risk is affected by our lifestyles.'
"Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed 'we can significantly stack the odds in our favour.'"
Many of these lines of evidence where developed originally by looking at environmental differences among different countries, as well as time series in cancer rates as lifestyles changed in countries over time, and comparisons of immigrants of varying ages of arrival (who adopt the lifestyles of new countries either as children or as adults) with relatives who stay in the old country. Then the best-understood models of cancer risk factors are further investigated through controlled experimentation on laboratory animals or on cell lines in vitro. Today it's plain enough that avoiding smoking, eating a varied, balanced diet, and maintaining normal weight through a combination of exercise and moderate eating offers substantial reduction of risk in all-cause mortality, including but not limited to death from cancer.
After edit: the second reply here asked how a diet higher rather than lower in fruits and vegetables can protect from cancers other than colon cancer. According to what I've read about the research, it's thought that some tendencies of healthy body cells to go into uncontrolled growth (cancer) are made worse by lack of micronutrients, which may be lacking in the diets of people who don't eat varied diets. It's also thought that the evolutionary arms race between plants (which tend to evolve tough husks but also phytotoxins as protections against being eaten) and animals (which have to eat some food source ultimately derived from autotrophic organisms, that is mostly plants) results in complex animals being selected for incidental adaptation of phytotoxins to kill off errant cell lines. What's poison in a large does can sometimes be medicine in the therapeutic dose and in the right time and place. All human beings eventually die of something, but the epidemiological evidence (and some laboratory evidence) shows that plant intake reduces chances of dying young of cancer, and these mechanisms are some of those suggested as reasons for that observation.
The top comment is from a healthy smoker of 65. People always love to discuss how they or someone they know has smoked their entire life and never had a problem. I know lots of smokers who still aren't convinced of the health issues. Seems like there's still a long way to go.
Susceptibility to lung cancer due to smoking is at least partly genetic. If you have certain variants of a specific gene (don't have time for the lit search right now), smoking won't significantly increase your chances of lung cancer.
The problem is not everyone has this gene variant, and you probably don't want to be playing Russian Roullette with your health.
A lot of the problem is that too many organisations shy away from harm reduction. They will make villains of much safer alternatives like snus or e-cigs. Many people who smoke are self-medicating. Reducing the risk to nicotine exposure from smoke exposure would go a very long way.
I got a nan, 96, walks to town 3 times a week, still rides her bike, been smoking 60 a day for 40 years, and recently cut back to 40. If i compare her to my other nan 86 frail and pretty much falling apart, now guess which one has had the better lifestyle? the second, very well off always comfortable.
At 96 i think she gets up to keep smoking, and if that keeps her alive then keep doing it.
Interestingly though, the article doesn't directly mention exercise. Obviously, obesity and lack of exercise are related, but I'm surprised that exercise isn't helpful in its own right. Or maybe the study or the article just didn't cover it, which I would find rather surprising as well.
Related to this topic I think you might find Dr. Terry Wahls' story fascinating, she pretty much 'cured' herself from Multiple Sclerosis by adopting a 'paleo' diet. She presented her findings at the 2011 Neuroscience conference ("Effects of intensive directed nutrition, progressive exercise program and neuromuscular electrical stimulation on secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (PDF)[1]") She also had a TED talk[2] taking us through the process of getting out of her wheelchair and the specific food she ate.
I know this immediately turns on your B.S. sensors, but she changed her lifestyle after spending hours on Pubmed doing research on nutrition's impact on the brain and specifically the mitochondria. I highly recommend the talk, it is both very informative and very moving. And there are some saddening statistics about the lack of vitamins and minerals in the American population.
So if these 40% of cancers were eliminated, what's the chances that the survivors would have ended up with one of the remaining 60%?
You have to die of something. What's important is years of high-quality life, rather than merely avoiding death from any specific ailment. And of course, quality is ultimately a subjective measure. All the behaviours that you must conform to, to avoid these specific deaths, may themselves detract from your quality of life.
In more depressing news: 60% of cancers may not be due to lifestyle. The correct phrase would probably be "known lifestyle choices". But seriously, shouldn't people be surprised lifestyle only accounts for 40%. What if I rewrote the entry paragraph in the following way:
Nearly half of low intelligence diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including not reading, debating, or thinking about interesting problems.
I look around at my colleagues and see apparent misuse of the body. Carbs and fat for lunch every day, smoking, no exercise, sitting in a chair all day long, buckets of coffee, stress, poor posture and body alignment, doing the same shit every day, poor outlook on life, no sunshine on you during half of the year, etc. Of course this is going to wreck a person.
Yet no one seems to even be conscious of the wrongness of this.
OTOH, discounting tobacco, most cases of cancer (78%) are unrelated to lifestyle choices. I also have problems coming to terms with the idea that occupational hazards are lifestyle choices.
I'm not sure if a lack of fruits and veggies leads to cancer. It leads to malnutrition. But, fruits and veggies have many benefits to prevent cancer: fiber helps your poo move through your bowels better; antioxidents fight free radicals; vitamins in natural form do lots of cool things (metabolism, brain function, etc.) that help your body's cells replicate normally.
I supposed you could argue for multivitamins. My approach is to not bet against 6000+ years of human biochemistry.
I don't think the study makes that claim. They are claiming that 6% of men with cancer don't eat enough fruits and vegetables (i'm not sure what enough is). There is no way to infer whether or not the lack of fruits and vegetables was the root cause of cancer in those cases.
Given that it's specific to men, I'd say fiber and prostate cancer. There's some evidence, specifically with respect to cancer, (I don't know if it's strong or not), that it helps clean out toxins and it helps regulate hormones.
There are more complex things at play here. Some foods actually contain compounds that reduce or prevent tumor growth. Cabbage for example has highest levels of two anti-cancer glucosinolates and protects against breast cancer and bread crust; has highest levels of Interlukin-B which protects against colon cancer.
As a real world example; Polish women have the lowest incidence of breast cancer and the highest consumption of cabbage.
From the headline I expected this article to be about over working and exhaustion, a topic I'm sure many here can relate to in some way. In the authorised biography of Steve Jobs, he comments on how he believes the exhaustive hours worked in 1997 when driving back and forth between Apple and Pixar were the cause for his cancer. In a similar vein, there seems to be a higher ratio of cancer sufferers in high pressured environments like financial trading. As a developer wanting to achieve amazing things, working what others consider crazy hours, the worry does occasionally cross my mind. I love what I do, but I do wonder how much harm can be caused by over working, regardless of the fact that there's nothing else I'd rather do with my time.
Most of the research on coffee that I've seen is mixed-to-modestly positive for moderate amounts (1-2 cups day). Essentially: if you're having a few cups, have no problems with it, and enjoy it, no need to stop. Some people do experience sleep and stress problems.
I've found that relying on tea through the course of the day (after a morning mug of espresso) keeps my energy levels more even. Dittos knocking off the carbs -- much more even energy levels, and no post-lunch slump.
Does anyone know why there's a little thumbnail of "reproduction" there?
My understanding is that in women, a lack of reproduction causes cancer. Basically, each period you have adds to your risk of breast cancer. Did the BBC just get it wrong or is there something I'm missing?
Right, I'm off to find some fruits and vegetables! Or do I get enough antioxidants as a tea-drinker? I'm conflicted because I know I don't get enough fruit in my diet, but the recommended daily amount of fruit seems difficult to get in the winter.
Since going vegan, that's been my nightly ritual: throw frozen fruit, bananas (one large or two small), juice, and vanilla soy milk in the blender carafe and put it in the refrigerator. I like to add ground flaxseed for the ALA as well.
I eat fruits with every meal. Not a ton of them, just making sure I get some nice tasty "vegetable candy" every time I eat food.
Also focus on getting enough fiber. Auto-magically this will ensure you get a lot of veggies, minerals, vitamins, and so on - as long as you don't rely on artificial means such as fiber supplements. Lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes, stuff like that - all those are good.
I do eat meat, eggs, dairy and so on, I'm not a vegetarian by any means. I just try to avoid eating too much red meat, or stuff heavy on cholesterol and saturated fat. I emphasize fish, turkey, chicken, lean meat, etc. Once in a while I will enjoy a good steak - it's not like you'll drop dead from eating it, and cholesterol is actually used by your body to make hormones and so on.
As a remnant from my weight lifting days, I try to eat some protein with every meal, and I try to avoid carbs-only meals. I think the low fat diets are ridiculous; controlling the calories overall, and the carbs in particular, and exercising, are far more important.
I reduced very drastically starchy foods. Bread, rice, potatoes - gone or greatly diminished. Eat a salad instead (for dressing, use oil and vinegar, not the sugary junk that most people use). Popcorn and potato chips are blacklisted in my household. Ice cream - I'll eat some once in a while when the kids are craving it. No candy. No soda.
I do eat a small amount of chocolate, Nutella, or drink some hot chocolate, almost every day in fact, in the evening; cocoa has antioxidants too, and the sweet taste gives you a serotonin boost when you're tired. This is the "vice" that I indulge in. :)
My preferred drink is green tea. Black is fine too. I drink lots.
I take one fish oil capsule in the evening, unless I had fish for lunch or dinner, in which case I skip it. I take one resveratrol capsule in the morning, one in the evening; there is some controversy re: this substance, but overall it still looks good; if the science changes, I'll change my habits accordingly.
I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do (sorry for the rage comics pun) I drink red wine. Mostly on social occasions.
I do strength exercises ("weight lifting") twice a week, maybe half an hour; often this is just going out to a park and doing pull-ups on a tree branch or something, then a few sets of clapping push-ups on soft ground, then one-leg squats holding on to a tree, stuff like that; the gym is nice, but it's optional. I ride the bicycle a few hours every week-end; I've a nice road bike that takes me far over the hills, towards the ocean, or wherever I wanna go. I walk every day about an hour - often I'll eat my lunch walking instead of sitting in a restaurant. When I take a break from work, I go out and walk; it's very relaxing and mind-expanding; a lot of innovative, out of the box ideas come to you when you're outdoors daydreaming.
At 182cm (6') tall, I weighed 61kg (135lb) a decade ago and I was a couch potato geek with awful eating habits. Then I started working out, changed lots of things. After a while I weighed 85kg (187lb), no fat, and I was bench pressing 100kg (220lb). Nowadays I scaled back lifting a lot, I eat less calories, I weigh somewhat less, maybe 78kg (172lb) - I don't know for sure and I don't care. The bathroom scale is full of bullsXXt, the mirror will tell you the truth. I feel I'm in great shape, and I was told I do look very much "in shape".
Sounds like a lot, but all this stuff was just a gentle, slow, very gradual change in habits over a long period of time, years really. I never forced the issues. If you take a vow and fail, so what? Tomorrow is another day. You turn around and try again. This is not a sprint, it's a decades-long marathon. Once the habits are changed, it takes no effort to keep the regimen. Nowadays my diet is the way it is because I actually like it. E.g. I developed an intense dislike for popcorn (tastes like flavored cardboard) and fast food (it's way too salty and greasy). The body gets used to exercising and it gets restless if you don't work out.
Slow gradual gentle changes, never forcing the issues, drive the habits deep into the psyche. If you feel you can't keep this up for decades to come, you're trying too hard - so scale back a notch. That's it. Good luck.
prunes. quite high in antioxidants and as a bonus high in fiber so the glycemic load isn't too bad. also very easy to buy in bulk, they don't spoil quickly like most fruits.
The thing that I dislike about cancer reporting (and don't get me wrong I'm all for improving ones lifestyle through better nutrition, exercise and social engagement) is that cancer is fundamentally different from a disease like the flu. If 40% of all flu cases were caused my lifestyle then it would be reasonable to say that you could change your lifestyle and dramatically cut down on the number of flu cases. But cancer is a disease of old age. Basically all of us are going to die and the long you live the more likely it is that you'll die of cancer, if not of the esophagus, then of the stomach, if not of the stomach then brain cancer, or pancreas cancer. So a healthy life style on average will delay the onset of cancer, but will by no means reduce the like-hood that you'll get cancer in your lifetime by 40%. Actually it probably has the perverse effect of making you much more resistant to cardiovascular decease, and therefor MORE likely to die of cancer, albeit at a more advanced age than you would have otherwise.
What I always wondered about eating healthy is, is it the unhealthy foods on their own that is the root cause, or the fact that unhealthy eaters don't eat wholesome foods?
For example, if I eat McDonalds, but then I also eat a bunch of fruits and veggies, would that mitigate the risk?
[+] [-] pflats|14 years ago|reply
That said, I didn't realize "going outside with short hair and no hat" was a bad lifestyle choice until it was too late, so I'm posting here:
Hey fair skinned folks! Just wearing sunscreen IS NOT ENOUGH. Wear a hat if you're going to spend more than a short time outside! If you have a family history of skin cancer, ask your barber to keep an eye out for moles when you're getting your hair cut.
[+] [-] tokenadult|14 years ago|reply
"Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed 'we can significantly stack the odds in our favour.'"
Many of these lines of evidence where developed originally by looking at environmental differences among different countries, as well as time series in cancer rates as lifestyles changed in countries over time, and comparisons of immigrants of varying ages of arrival (who adopt the lifestyles of new countries either as children or as adults) with relatives who stay in the old country. Then the best-understood models of cancer risk factors are further investigated through controlled experimentation on laboratory animals or on cell lines in vitro. Today it's plain enough that avoiding smoking, eating a varied, balanced diet, and maintaining normal weight through a combination of exercise and moderate eating offers substantial reduction of risk in all-cause mortality, including but not limited to death from cancer.
After edit: the second reply here asked how a diet higher rather than lower in fruits and vegetables can protect from cancers other than colon cancer. According to what I've read about the research, it's thought that some tendencies of healthy body cells to go into uncontrolled growth (cancer) are made worse by lack of micronutrients, which may be lacking in the diets of people who don't eat varied diets. It's also thought that the evolutionary arms race between plants (which tend to evolve tough husks but also phytotoxins as protections against being eaten) and animals (which have to eat some food source ultimately derived from autotrophic organisms, that is mostly plants) results in complex animals being selected for incidental adaptation of phytotoxins to kill off errant cell lines. What's poison in a large does can sometimes be medicine in the therapeutic dose and in the right time and place. All human beings eventually die of something, but the epidemiological evidence (and some laboratory evidence) shows that plant intake reduces chances of dying young of cancer, and these mechanisms are some of those suggested as reasons for that observation.
[+] [-] melling|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DevX101|14 years ago|reply
The problem is not everyone has this gene variant, and you probably don't want to be playing Russian Roullette with your health.
[+] [-] mechanical_fish|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Lost_BiomedE|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ukgent2|14 years ago|reply
I got a nan, 96, walks to town 3 times a week, still rides her bike, been smoking 60 a day for 40 years, and recently cut back to 40. If i compare her to my other nan 86 frail and pretty much falling apart, now guess which one has had the better lifestyle? the second, very well off always comfortable.
At 96 i think she gets up to keep smoking, and if that keeps her alive then keep doing it.
[+] [-] helipad|14 years ago|reply
Apparently eating well, drinking in moderation, not smoking and regular exercise reduce the risk of cancer.
When interviewed, man hiding under rock expressed surprise and gratitude for the update.
[+] [-] randallsquared|14 years ago|reply
I'm not sure "eating well" has the same meaning for everybody. :) Perhaps we should say "eating safely" or something.
[+] [-] fauigerzigerk|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomjen3|14 years ago|reply
Which is why so few people do it.
[+] [-] hvass|14 years ago|reply
I know this immediately turns on your B.S. sensors, but she changed her lifestyle after spending hours on Pubmed doing research on nutrition's impact on the brain and specifically the mitochondria. I highly recommend the talk, it is both very informative and very moving. And there are some saddening statistics about the lack of vitamins and minerals in the American population.
[1] http://www.sfn.org/am2011/pdf/prelim/SUN_Poster_PM_v2.pdf [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc&feature=playe...
[+] [-] Shorel|14 years ago|reply
(also replying as a form of bookmark)
[+] [-] barrkel|14 years ago|reply
You have to die of something. What's important is years of high-quality life, rather than merely avoiding death from any specific ailment. And of course, quality is ultimately a subjective measure. All the behaviours that you must conform to, to avoid these specific deaths, may themselves detract from your quality of life.
[+] [-] AznHisoka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] litmus|14 years ago|reply
Nearly half of low intelligence diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including not reading, debating, or thinking about interesting problems.
[+] [-] Shorel|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itmag|14 years ago|reply
Yet no one seems to even be conscious of the wrongness of this.
[+] [-] AznHisoka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] richcollins|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EdiX|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MartinMond|14 years ago|reply
I can understand it leading to colon cancer, but does it also lead to other kinds of cancer?
AFAIK even if you never eat fruits/vegetables you aren't lacking any micronutrients?
[+] [-] akadien|14 years ago|reply
I supposed you could argue for multivitamins. My approach is to not bet against 6000+ years of human biochemistry.
[+] [-] simpsond|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] latch|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DifE-Q|14 years ago|reply
As a real world example; Polish women have the lowest incidence of breast cancer and the highest consumption of cabbage.
[+] [-] jolan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesriley|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] carldall|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dredmorbius|14 years ago|reply
I've found that relying on tea through the course of the day (after a morning mug of espresso) keeps my energy levels more even. Dittos knocking off the carbs -- much more even energy levels, and no post-lunch slump.
[+] [-] nivertech|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] araneae|14 years ago|reply
My understanding is that in women, a lack of reproduction causes cancer. Basically, each period you have adds to your risk of breast cancer. Did the BBC just get it wrong or is there something I'm missing?
[+] [-] ghc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|14 years ago|reply
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/buff-smoothie...
Since going vegan, that's been my nightly ritual: throw frozen fruit, bananas (one large or two small), juice, and vanilla soy milk in the blender carafe and put it in the refrigerator. I like to add ground flaxseed for the ALA as well.
[+] [-] Florin_Andrei|14 years ago|reply
Also focus on getting enough fiber. Auto-magically this will ensure you get a lot of veggies, minerals, vitamins, and so on - as long as you don't rely on artificial means such as fiber supplements. Lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes, stuff like that - all those are good.
I do eat meat, eggs, dairy and so on, I'm not a vegetarian by any means. I just try to avoid eating too much red meat, or stuff heavy on cholesterol and saturated fat. I emphasize fish, turkey, chicken, lean meat, etc. Once in a while I will enjoy a good steak - it's not like you'll drop dead from eating it, and cholesterol is actually used by your body to make hormones and so on.
As a remnant from my weight lifting days, I try to eat some protein with every meal, and I try to avoid carbs-only meals. I think the low fat diets are ridiculous; controlling the calories overall, and the carbs in particular, and exercising, are far more important.
I reduced very drastically starchy foods. Bread, rice, potatoes - gone or greatly diminished. Eat a salad instead (for dressing, use oil and vinegar, not the sugary junk that most people use). Popcorn and potato chips are blacklisted in my household. Ice cream - I'll eat some once in a while when the kids are craving it. No candy. No soda.
I do eat a small amount of chocolate, Nutella, or drink some hot chocolate, almost every day in fact, in the evening; cocoa has antioxidants too, and the sweet taste gives you a serotonin boost when you're tired. This is the "vice" that I indulge in. :)
My preferred drink is green tea. Black is fine too. I drink lots.
I take one fish oil capsule in the evening, unless I had fish for lunch or dinner, in which case I skip it. I take one resveratrol capsule in the morning, one in the evening; there is some controversy re: this substance, but overall it still looks good; if the science changes, I'll change my habits accordingly.
I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do (sorry for the rage comics pun) I drink red wine. Mostly on social occasions.
I do strength exercises ("weight lifting") twice a week, maybe half an hour; often this is just going out to a park and doing pull-ups on a tree branch or something, then a few sets of clapping push-ups on soft ground, then one-leg squats holding on to a tree, stuff like that; the gym is nice, but it's optional. I ride the bicycle a few hours every week-end; I've a nice road bike that takes me far over the hills, towards the ocean, or wherever I wanna go. I walk every day about an hour - often I'll eat my lunch walking instead of sitting in a restaurant. When I take a break from work, I go out and walk; it's very relaxing and mind-expanding; a lot of innovative, out of the box ideas come to you when you're outdoors daydreaming.
At 182cm (6') tall, I weighed 61kg (135lb) a decade ago and I was a couch potato geek with awful eating habits. Then I started working out, changed lots of things. After a while I weighed 85kg (187lb), no fat, and I was bench pressing 100kg (220lb). Nowadays I scaled back lifting a lot, I eat less calories, I weigh somewhat less, maybe 78kg (172lb) - I don't know for sure and I don't care. The bathroom scale is full of bullsXXt, the mirror will tell you the truth. I feel I'm in great shape, and I was told I do look very much "in shape".
Sounds like a lot, but all this stuff was just a gentle, slow, very gradual change in habits over a long period of time, years really. I never forced the issues. If you take a vow and fail, so what? Tomorrow is another day. You turn around and try again. This is not a sprint, it's a decades-long marathon. Once the habits are changed, it takes no effort to keep the regimen. Nowadays my diet is the way it is because I actually like it. E.g. I developed an intense dislike for popcorn (tastes like flavored cardboard) and fast food (it's way too salty and greasy). The body gets used to exercising and it gets restless if you don't work out.
Slow gradual gentle changes, never forcing the issues, drive the habits deep into the psyche. If you feel you can't keep this up for decades to come, you're trying too hard - so scale back a notch. That's it. Good luck.
[+] [-] nazgulnarsil|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] latch|14 years ago|reply
I'd argue that for, a lot of people living in developed countries, things like exposure to poor air quality should be considered a lifestyle choice.
[+] [-] Zirro|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] known|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Florin_Andrei|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jimmeh2|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EricDeb|14 years ago|reply
For example, if I eat McDonalds, but then I also eat a bunch of fruits and veggies, would that mitigate the risk?
[+] [-] mgh2|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianN|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Shorel|14 years ago|reply
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/09/19/paleo-diet-s...