What Cancer Types Are Most Preventable?

These researchers also evaluated cancer types, and for 19 out of the 30 cancer types analyzed, more than half of the cancer cases and deaths were attributable to the potentially modifiable risk factors considered in this study². The highest associations were found for²:

• Lung cancer
• Female breast cancer
• Skin melanoma colorectal cancer
• Liver
• Esophageal

These numbers are staggering. This means that close to half of all new cancer cases and cancer deaths could be minimized if people adopted certain lifestyle practices. Let’s focus on the positive.

How Smoking Cigarettes Causes Cancer and How to Quit

The most influential factor in cancer causation and cancer deaths is smoking cigarettes. There’s a reason they say: don’t even get started. It is one of those habits that is hard to break and brings you absolutely no benefits. Smoking can increase your risk of cancer by 20%, so why even tempt destiny?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease, death, and disability in the United States, and combined with secondhand smoke exposure can cause more than 480,000 deaths each year³.

Smoking causes⁴:

• Cancer
• Lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Heart disease and stroke
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Harmful reproductive health effects
• Immune system conditions
• Among other diseases

Secondhand smoke is equally detrimental and affects adults and children differently³.

In adults, it contributes to³:

• Coronary heart disease
• Stroke
• Lung cancer

In children, secondhand smoke increases the risk of³:

• Respiratory infections
• Ear infections
• Asthma attacks
• Sudden infant death syndrome

As Spanish researchers wrote in an article published in 2023, “Smoking is an addictive, chronic and relapsing disease that, due to its high prevalence, morbidity and mortality, has become one of the main public health problems worldwide, affecting both smokers and rest of population involuntarily exposed to smoke tobacco⁵.”

Never start smoking or quit today.

If you smoke and are having a hard time quitting, or you know someone who smokes and needs help, there are certain treatments including counseling and medication that can be valuable resources. The CDC provides free resources to help people quit.

How Drinking Alcohol Increases Your Cancer Risk?

Together with cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol is another modifiable risk factor that involves removing something from your life, instead of having to add something.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking too much, whether that means drinking too much on a single occasion or over time can have serious consequences on health⁶. Alcohol consumption can affect several organ systems⁶:

• Brain – alcohol can affect mood and behavior, thinking, and coordination.
• Heart conditions – damage to the heart, including cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, stroke, and high blood pressure.
• Liver – liver inflammation and conditions, such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis.
• Pancreas – inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis).
• Immune system – drinking too much can lead to compromised immune function.
• Cancer – alcohol consumption has been associated with increased risk of head and neck cancer, including oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx cancers, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer⁷.

There is still a strong controversy regarding the consumption of certain alcoholic beverages, mainly red wines, and their potential benefits on health⁸. Most researchers agree that “light to moderate wine intake seems to have some beneficial effects⁹” but also “high doses of any alcohol intake, including wine, are harmful and should be avoided⁹.”

Trying to find the balance between moderate and excessive consumption of any alcoholic beverage is a challenge, and that is why excessive drinking is a big health issue worldwide. Between benefits and side effects, considering all the organ systems that can be affected by excessive alcohol consumption, and mostly to reduce the risk of cancer, avoid drinking alcoholic beverages! If drinking, do it seldom and opt for red wine in small amounts. Recall that drinking too much can happen on a single occasion or over time, so the easier and safer strategy is not to drink.

Reducing Your Cancer Risk and How We Can Help

Lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol consumption play a significant role in cancer risk and can be modified to reduce the likelihood of developing cancer. By understanding these risks and taking steps to improve habits, individuals can make empowered choices to protect their health. Stay tuned for our upcoming blogs where we will continue to explore various risk factors that contribute to cancer.

You can learn how sleep habits can impact your cancer risk here:

https://www.anoasisofhealing.com/can-my-sleep-habits-affect-my-cancer-risk/

Stay tuned to learn more about lifestyle choices that matter.

To learn more about how our holistic cancer treatments can help you or a loved one, visit our website and discover how you can become a patient today.

References

1. Islami F, Goding Sauer A, Miller KD, Siegel RL, Fedewa SA, Jacobs EJ, McCullough ML, Patel AV, Ma J, Soerjomataram I, Flanders WD, Brawley OW, Gapstur SM, Jemal A. Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018 Jan;68(1):31-54. doi: 10.3322/caac.21440. Epub 2017 Nov 21. PMID: 29160902.
2. Islami F, Marlow EC, Thomson B, McCullough ML, Rumgay H, Gapstur SM, Patel AV, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A. Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States, 2019. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024 Sep-Oct;74(5):405-432. doi: 10.3322/caac.21858. Epub 2024 Jul 11. PMID: 38990124.
3. Smoking and Tobacco Use. Cigarette Smoking. Sept 17, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/about/index.html, accessed Sept 22, 2024.
4. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK179276.pdf, accessed Sept 22, 2024
5. Álvarez Mavárez JD, Mirambeaux Villalona RM, Raboso Moreno B, Segrelles Calvo G, Cabrera César E, de Higes-Martínez EB. Preguntas y respuestas en tabaquismo [Questions and Answers in Tobacco Smoking]. Open Respir Arch. 2023 Jan 3;5(1):100230. Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.opresp.2022.100230. PMID: 37497250; PMCID: PMC10369620.
6. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol’s Effects on the Body. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohols-effects-body, accessed Sept 22, 2024.
7. National Institutes of Health. National Cancer Institute. Alcohol and Cancer Risk. Updated: Jul 14, 2021. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet, accessed Sept 22, 2024.
8. Lombardo M, Feraco A, Camajani E, Caprio M, Armani A. Health Effects of Red Wine Consumption: A Narrative Review of an Issue That Still Deserves Debate. Nutrients. 2023 Apr 16;15(8):1921. doi: 10.3390/nu15081921. PMID: 37111141; PMCID: PMC10146095.
9. Minzer S, Estruch R, Casas R. Wine Intake in the Framework of a Mediterranean Diet and Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases: A Short Literature Review of the Last 5 Years. Molecules. 2020 Oct 30;25(21):5045. doi: 10.3390/molecules25215045. PMID: 33143082; PMCID: PMC7663679.