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Show Live A Healthy Lifestyle And Decrease Your Cancer Risk By Gavin S. West, University Of Utah Medical Student Today, I would like to discuss a topic that is important to everyone, every-one, cancer prevention. Cancer is a dread disease that strikes fear in many peoples hearts, but the most important thing to remember is that many cancers are preventable. prevent-able. According to the American Cancer Society, 175,000 cancer deaths in 1998 were caused by . the use of tobacco (American Cancer Society, website, http: www.cancer.org.) Another 19,000 cancer deaths with be related to the excessive use to alcohol. One million skin cancers that are diagnosed di-agnosed in 1998 will be related to excessive sun exposure. In addition, addi-tion, one third of the 564,800 . cancer deaths will be related to poor dietary habits. So what can we do to help prevent cancer? The American Cancer Research Foundation (http:www.aicr.org) gives some guidelines. Eating right, plus staying physically active and maintaining a healthy weight can cut cancer risk by 30 - 40 percent. Healthy diet choices coupled with not smoking have the potential poten-tial to reduce cancer risk by 60 -70 percent. As many as 375,000 cases of cancer could be prevented by healthy dietary choices. A simple change, such as eating the recommended five serving of fruits and vegetables a day could reduce cancer rates by more than 20 percent. So what makes up a healthy diet and lifestyle? Once again, the American Cancer Research Foundation guidelines state: 1. Eat variety of plant based foods. 2. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. 3. Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active. 4. Drink alcohol in moderation, modera-tion, if at all. 5. Select foods low in fat and salt. 6. Prepare and store foods safely. In addition to the above mentioned men-tioned lifestyle changes, many . cancers can be . successfully , treated if they are detected . early by medical professionals. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that people 20 - 40 years old get a cancer related checkup every three eyars and people 40 and over should get a cancer checkup every year. The ACS also recommends that women 40 and older get an annual mammogram and an anunual clinical breast exam performed per-formed by a health care professional. profes-sional. Women ages 20 - 39 should have a clinical breast exam every three years. Women and men ages 50 and over should have their colon and rectum examined ex-amined by sigmidoschopy (a flexible tube that looks at the inside of the bowel) every five years. Men over the age of 50 should get a prostate specific blook test and digital rectal exam every year to avoid prostate cancer can-cer complications. Women who are sexually active or over the, age of 18 should have an annual pelvic exam and Pap test to avoid complications of cervical cancer. So, if you don't use alcohol or use tobacco, eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, use sun screen and see your family doctor for scheduled cancer screening, your risk for cancer will greatly decrease. de-crease. If you want more information informa-tion about cancer and cancer prevention, pre-vention, visit your city library and access these websites: The American Cancer Research Foundation at http:aicr.org or the American Cancer Society at http:www.cancer.org. The librarians li-brarians will be happy to help you. |