Why Avoiding Cancer is Now Easier Than Ever

do you know how much you can control your chances of getting cancer one of the biggest dangers to your health cancer took nearly 10 million lives around the world in 2022 and it affects 40% of US during our lifetimes it's critical to understand how we can protect ourselves and the choices that we make massively impact on our risks while our genes play a role a recent Global study found that half of all cancer deaths in men and almost 40% in women come from things that we can prevent in this video I'll explain what those factors

are including the top three that we absolutely need to focus on I'll show you the research on their dramatic impact and give you some practical steps that you can start right away these are steps that I use with my patients in the clinic and I'll also tell you about some new discoveries that are changing how we can find cancer early when it's easy to cure and before symptoms appear so how can we control whether we get cancer well the smart way is to avoid seven things that research links to cancer all are important but the

last three that we'll talk about have the biggest Act and the very last one might surprise you the first one probably won't though avoid too much sun sunlight can hurt our skin cells that's why too much sun can cause skin cancer one of the most common types of cancer in the United States research shows that people who work outside have a 60% higher chance of getting skin cancer so to protect our skin from Sun we can do two things first we can spend less time in the sun especially during the middle of the day when

it's strongest but the second and more important is to wear sunscreen and protective clothes when we're outside one study found that using sunscreen every day can lower the risk of certain types of skin cancer today it's best to use sunscreen with SPF 50 or higher so I personally use beauty of Jos sunscreen it's SPF 50 and it doesn't contain any of the 12 flagged ingredients that the FDA wants more safety data on it also uses new filters such as bitol which don't get absorbed through the skin and I'm not affiliated in any way but if

I didn't have ACC access to that sunscreen I would use seriv 100% mineral sunscreen spf50 while it can leave a white film when applying it I would personally prefer to use a mineral-based sunscreen rather than one of the other sunscreens that have ingredients that need further study the second thing we can do is exercise our bodies need to move exercising makes our immune system stronger it lowers insulin levels and has other health benefits that are associated with reduction and cancer risks exercise acts like as shields for our cells keeping them strong against threats a recent

study followed over 750,000 people for 10 years those who exercised hard for 7 and 1 half to 15 hours each week had a much lower risk of seven out of 15 cancers studied including colon and breast cancer another study with 1.44 million adults showed a lower risk of 13 types of cancers in people who exercised regularly including a more than 20% drop in the risk of seven cancers now I know that St starting to exercise can be a bit challenging so here's what I tell my patients find an activity that you like doing so that

it doesn't feel like a chore if you love nature try walking if you like music try dancing or if you enjoy listening to books or podcasts combine it with jogging or biking so that it doesn't feel that we're exercising aim for 30 minutes a day ideally 5 days a week so personally I love to go for a run or if the weather is bad I use my exercycle bike at home which I bought secondhand for $60 but what if you're super busy well here's a tip on busy days I do something called exercise snacks these

are short bursts of exercise throughout the day like push-ups sit-ups or other body weight exercises even at the clinic during a quick 15minute paperwork break I'll fit in some exercise so these snacks can add up to make a massive difference to our health the third thing we can do to guard against cancer is to eat healthy foods and I'll go through the exciting advancements on how to catch cancer early later in the video it makes sense that feeding our bodies well helps our cells stay strong and handle any damage doctors and scientists agree on this

and a big review of many studies found that eating healthy foods is linked to a lower risk of certain types of cancers so what foods should we eat well first let's talk about what we should avoid some foods increase our cancer risks so for example processed Meats many Studies have found a link between eating these processed meats and a higher risk of colon cancer processed foods in general are best avoided it includes things that we all know chips sodas instant soups frozen meals and other convenience Foods a recent study from France found that eating a

lot of ultra-processed foods was linked to higher risks of cancers especially breast cancer on the other hand research supports the powerful positive effects of a healthy diet so you've probably heard about the Mediterranean diet but there are many other healthy diets that we can use the Mediterranean diet in particular it focuses on eating lots of vegetables nuts whole grains fish and extra virgin olive oil and a massive study found that following this diet can lower the risk of dying from any cause by 9% and reduce the risk of cancer deaths by 6% I also make

sure to eat a high protein diet to maximize the benefits of exercise and though the area of diet can seem complicated the key things to remember are really simple avoid processed Meats sugary foods and sugar in general as well as processed foods eat plenty of fresh vegetables whole fruits whole grains along with protein sources like fish chickpeas beans and nuts foods rich in fiber are wonderful for our health but if you do have irritable bowel syndrome make sure to see your doctor because a high fiber diet might not be the best path for you and

to make sure that I reach the recommended daily intakes of all of the vitamins and minerals every day I take micrites not in any way mean that you should as well the fourth way we can lower our cancer risk is to avoid drinking alcohol why alcohol can change our hormones and irritate our cells it also appears to help other cancer-causing substances to spread more easily in our bodies one large study in Korea found that people who drank more alcohol had a higher risk of getting cancer on the other hand those who drank less had a

lower risk drinking alcohol is especially linked to cancers of the mouth throat liver and breast so how much alcohol is safe well unfortunately even small amounts can increase our cancer risk research from the American Institute for cancer found that drinking just one drink a day can raise the risk of several common cancers their advice it's best not to drink any alcohol now we come to the final three factors numbers five six and seven Each of which are among the most significant for limiting our cancer risks and you don't want to miss any of these the

fifth risk factor has been estimated to cause an incredible 40% of all cancers in the US the risk factor I'm talking about is obesity excess body fat is like a ticking Time Bomb releasing harmful signals that can lead to chaos in the body it gives off signals that can cause inflammation and increase growth hormones telling our cells to divide more often and raising the chances of cancer cells forming a study in the UK found that excess weight is linked to 41% of uterine cancers and over 10% of gallbladder kidney liver and colog Cancers another study

with over 1.7 million people found that those who have a high BMI or body mass index When We're Young it increases our cancer risk later in life and we can have even more confidence in the connection when we have a look at what happens when people lose significant amounts of weight a study from 2007 found that people who had gastric bypass surgery which helps people to lose a lot of weight had a 60% lower risk of dying from cancer so if you're not currently overweight these scientific findings can give us powerful motivations to keep a

healthy weight but if you are currently overweight I know that losing weight can be a challenge even when you know the risks but notice that there's something about the risk factors that we've already looked at being more active and eating a healthy diet are both powerful ways to work towards a healthy weight so avoiding obesity isn't something extra that we need to do it happens naturally if we focus on moving more and eating well but if our weight is still too high we can talk to our doctor about medications like a zic to help us

lose weight medications are not a bad thing it's just another tool to help us stay healthy and no because this always comes up in the comment section I've never received money from a farmer company not only is that unethical but it's also illegal in New Zealand the sixth risk factor is smoking smoking makes us more likely to get lung cancers and at least 15 other types of cancer it was responsible for 21% of all cancer deaths around the world in 2011 it's the single most important preventable cause of cancer so what can we do well

clearly it's best not to start smoking but if we do smoke cutting back can still help a lot one study found that smoking 15 cigarettes a day instead of 20 cigarettes lowered the risk of lung cancer by a whopping 20% incredibly research has shown that the positive effects of quitting smoking show up almost immediately within 2 weeks of stopping smoking smokers can expect to have more energy feel healthier and improve their breathing so how can we quit well obviously it's difficult as nicotine is incredibly addictive but it's definitely possible so here are some tips it

helps to know who or what motivates you to become smokefree change up your routine to help avoid the triggers that make you want to smoke and when you feel the urge to smoke many people find the 4 DS helpful delay lighting up for at least 5 minutes take several deep slow breaths drink water and do something else so change what you're doing especially to something active and help is available there are medications and support groups that can help us quit many communities and programs can support us on this journey now we come to the last

factor and as I said the beginning of the video it will probably surprise you there are a number of cancer types like cervical cancer lymphoma and gastric cancer that have been convincingly linked to infections in fact it's estimated that 13% of all cancers worldwide are due to infections and one of the most shocking statistics comes from Scotland in Scotland women who were fully vaccinated against HPV which is a virus that can cause cervical cancer they had no cases of cervical cancer whatsoever overall these seven factors put put powerful control into our hands to reduce our

risks when it comes to cancer it really comes down to a set of simple guidelines that you can work through to give you the best odds possible so overall limit sun exposure stay active eat healthy avoid alcohol and smoking maintain a healthy weight and vaccinate against viruses that are known to cause cancer unfortunately though even if we follow all of those steps cancer can still happen but we do have one more powerful tool at our disposal a key in treating cancer effectively is Catch ing it early at this stage it's smaller and it hasn't spread

increasing the treatment options and chances of survival so how do we catch cancer early before symptoms start well we use cancer screenings so these are tests that help us find cancer before we feel sick there are screening programs for breast colon cervical and prostate Cancers and these tests have saved countless lives by finding cancer early and I'm going to put a link to a guide about the cancer screening recommendations in the pinned comment but there's still a problem right now those cancer tests that we have that can only detect a small number of cancers about

70% of all cancer deaths come from cancers that we don't have good screening programs for yet but here's the good news recent advances promise to radically change this these new tests use a simple blood sample to look for signs of cancer they find tiny pieces of DNA or proteins from cancer cells like a fingerprint that shows that cancer is there this can help us find many more cancers earlier even ones that we don't have tests for yet and one famous example is the gallery blood test but while I'm excited for the potential of these tests

at this time much more needs to be learned before these types of tests can be recommended for widespread use in people without symptoms of cancer and it's the same for full body MRI scans so for example the American College of radiology says that there isn't enough evidence to recommend them for people without symptoms full body MRI scans they find non-specific lesions in about 10% of people leading to further tests and procedures that themselves can cause problems like infections from biopsies or unnecessary invasive operations and there's no evidence currently that any of that saves lives or

extends lifespan so one famous example of extra testing not saving lives is ovarian cancer a massive long-term trial looked at using ultrasounds and blood tests to screen for ovarian cancer over the 16-year study period those extra tests they didn't help people live longer or reduce cancer deaths bringing it back though cancer is a serious threat and we can take strong steps to help lower our risks by following healthy habits and using the best screening methods we can avoid cancer more easily than ever but remember cancer isn't the only health risk there are other conditions like

heart disease that we also need to watch out for and just like with cancer there are tests that can help us find conditions early so that we can take action to stay healthy so make sure to check out this next video here to discover five simple blood tests that can save your life