The answer to cancer lies simply in practicing healthy living, mainly eating a balanced diet, adopting a healthy body weight and keeping active.
Unbelievable as it may sound, these old-fashioned measures are life-saving. Did you know: Just being fat and obese puts you at risk of get¬ting 6 different types of cancer. Consuming alcohol also predisposes you to this killer disease. So does eating red meat and processed meats.
These are some of the key findings in long-term studies done worldwide that top cancer experts today say people should seriously heed.
The findings reviewed by a panel of the world’s leading scientists and supported by observers from the United Nations and other international organizations were published on 1st November 2007 by the World Cancer Re¬search Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) in a detailed 517-page report, entitled Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective.
The report is the most comprehensive ever published on the evidence linking cancer risk to diet, physical activity and weight.
Its main conclusion can be described in one sentence: Our diet and lifestyle greatly influence cancer risk. You and your family need not hear the dreaded “C” word if you simply adopt an anti-cancer lifestyle, by eating right and incorporating physical activity in your daily life.
Read on for more on the lethal link between lifestyle choices and lifespan, and the connection between poor diets and premature deaths from cancer and cancer-inducing diseases.

More Cancer in Urbanized and Industrialized Societies
Cancer, which has evolved unchecked into a worldwide health scourge today, will continue to strike many in the future.
According to the recently released WCRF-AICR report, “… (P)atterns of production and consumption of food and drink, of physical activity, and of body composition have changed greatly throughout human history.
“Remarkable changes have taken place as a result of urbanization and industrialization, at first in Europe, North America, and other economically advanced countries, and increasingly in most countries in the world.
“Notable variations have been identified in patterns of cancer throughout the world. Significantly, studies consistently show that patterns of cancer change as populations migrate from one part of the world to another and as countries become increasingly urbanized and industrialized.

“Projections indicate that rates of cancer in general are liable to increase.”

This is not the first time that such concerns have been raised. In 2003, the World Cancer Report, issued by the Inter-national Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned that global cancer rates could increase by 50% to 15 million by 2020.
Once considered a “Western” disease, more than 50% of the world’s cancer burden, in terms of both numbers of cases and deaths, already occurred in developing countries, according to the 2003 WHO data.
“Cancer has emerged as a major public health problem in developing countries for the first time, matching its effect in industrialized nations. This is a global problem, and it’s growing. But, we can take steps to slow this growth,” Paul Kleihues, MD, Director of IARC and co-editor of the World Cancer Report, was quoted as saying at that time.
Today, the latest cancer alert says that we can actually prevent cancer. The recently released WCRF-AICR report specifies recommendations “based on solid evidence will which, when followed, be expected to reduce the incidence of cancer”.

Most Cancers are Invited, Not Inherited
Although cancer is considered to be a disease of genes that are vulnerable to mutation, evidence indicates that small
only a number of cancers are inherited, the experts say.
While it’s true that DNA (genetic material) damage promotes cancer, only 5-10% of cancers are directly inherited, and someone with an inherited cancer-promoting gene will not necessarily develop cancer (but is at in¬creased risk compared to the general population). (Source: EUFIC)
Instead, exposure to environmental factors that promote gene damage is by far the most important determinant of whether we develop cancer or not.

What are these environmental factors?

What Initiates Cancer
Some of the major environmental factors that trigger cancer include tobacco use, infectious agents, radiation, industrial chemicals, pollution and medications. But that’s not the whole list.
Food and nutrition, physical activity and body composition are also important, but often overlooked, environmental factors that contribute to the development of cancer.
We may not be able to avoid all environmental carcinogens (cancer-producing substances) such as tobacco smoke, radiation and infection, but there are many aspects of our daily life that can be modified to prevent damage to our DNA, such as a healthy diet and lifestyle choices. (Source: EUFIC)
According to the worlds top cancer experts involved in the WCRF-AICR report; there is a wealth of evidence that documents the ability of food and nutrition, physical activity, and body composition to influence several stages of the cancer development process.

How do these 3 factors influence cancer risk?

FAULTY DIET.

An unhealthy diet, which results in poor nutrition, raises cancer risk in 2 main ways:

1. Causes cellular mayhem.
Cancer begins in your cells, which are the building blocks of your body. Normally, your body forms new cells as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes this process goes wrong. New cells grow even when you don’t t need them, and old cells don’t die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass called a tumor, which can I be malignant (i.e. cancer) or benign (i.e. harmless). (Source: Medline Plus)
According to the 2007 WCRF-AICR report, “Our dietary patterns can indirectly influence cell growth by way of changes in general metabolic, regulatory and endocrine effects.
“The normal functioning of all biological processes, including those of the human body, depends on the availability of substrate (i.e. the base on which an organism lives) and nutrients. Good nutrition defined as appropriate provision of food and nutrients from the level of the whole organism to the cellular and intracellular level is needed for normal structure and function.
When a person is not suitably nourished, either through under or over nutrition, this has an effect on the tissue micro environment, and can compromise both its structure and function.

2. Changes and damages DNA.
It is now well established that an important process underlying cancer involves changes or defects in our genes. (Genes are composed of DNA, the genetic material and hence, I “blueprint” of life.)
Damage to DNA (i.e. mutations) can “initiate” a cancer a by turning off normal cell regulation. Most cancers that develop this way are clinically identifiable only years or decades after the initial DNA damage.
Here, too, diet and nutrition play a role.
“Nutrients and food constituents have effects that can either stop several processes that lead to cancer; or contribute to cancer development by altering DNA itself, or by altering how the genetic message in DNA is translated.” (WCRF-AICR report, 2007)

The good news: There is increased evidence that specific dietary patterns, foods and drinks, and dietary constituents can and do protect against cancer, not only before but also after the start of the process.

• EXCESS BODY FAT.
One of the biggest changes in the current WCRF-AICR report, also referred to as the Second Expert Report (this cancer report is actually the second one to be published in the past 10 years), is that medical evidence that excess body fat increases the risk of developing cancer, is much stronger now than 10 years ago.
“The most striking finding in the report is that excess body fat increases risk for numerous cancers. That is why body weight is the focus of our first recommendation,” expert panel member W. Phillip T. James, M.D., D.Sc., said at a press conference previewing the report.
How does being fat increase cancer risk?
Research indicates that body fat produces an excess of substances such as sex hormones and insulin. Under normal circumstances these are perfectly normal substances that contribute to natural body chemistry. But in an obese person, higher levels of these chemicals can urge cells to grow and divide at an accelerated rate. (Source: WebMD Health News)
The good news: Physical activity a simple, inexpensive measure can protect you against many forms of cancer.

• PHYSICAL INACTIVITY.
Although humans are designed to be regularly physically active, in recent years, especially in high-income countries, physical activity levels have continued to decline. Occupations have become more sedentary, most journeys are made in motorized vehicles, machines do most of the household chores and active recreation has been replaced by TV and computer games.
This lack of activity is likely to be an important factor in overweight and obesity, which themselves increase the risk of some cancers.
The latest WCRF-AICR report supports the general theory that humans are evolved and adapted to be physically active throughout life and that sedentary ways of life can be unhealthy. (Source: EUFIC)
Because the evidence on weight gain as a factor in cancer is now so much stronger, the report stresses that people should keep their weight under control by abstaining from unhealthy fat inducing diets and being physically active on a regular basis if they want to prevent cancer.

At this point, some of you are groaning and saying, “Good grief, what is left to eat?”
The following is a suggested food plan that we all should be eating for good health, cancer prevention and maximum energy:
• Fowls with skin removed.
• Eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, turnips, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Steam or eat them raw to preserve their cancer fighting nutrients.
• Eat at least three servings of cold-water fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, halibut and cod. They contain omega-3 fatty acid.
• Get plenty of fiber from vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains.
• Include in your diet soy products like tofu, miso, and tempeh regularly.
• Shop for organic food whenever possible.
• Regularly include in your diet mushrooms of the Japanese variety like maitake and shiitake.
• Eat a large variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, seeds, nuts and legumes instead of processed and refined carbohydrates. Eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. They contain phytochemicals that act as antioxidants like carotenoids and flavonoids that protect against cellular damage and inhibit cancer growth.
• Consume plenty of allium vegetables like garlic, onions, leeks and shallots.
• Lots of good clean water. “Tap water these days is more like a soup, a chemical soup,” says Harvey and Marilyn Diamond in their book, Living Health. I suggest a good quality reverse osmosis unit for drinking water.

Eat small frequent meals. Nibbling helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and minimize insulin rushes.
Don’t eat a food that will not rot or sprout. Foods with long shelf life are not going to nourish the body.
Take spirulina, a whole food. Some scientists have called it “a food of the future.” It contains 65% vegetable protein and a whole spectrum of vitamins (except C), minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants and chlorophyll which help boost the immune function against cancer. Scientists at the Osaka Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease have confirmed in humans that taking an extract of spirulina can have a positive effect on the production of cancer fighting immune cells in the body (The Journal of International Immunopharmaco/ogy vol. 2, number 4).
Ease up on sugary beverages. A lot of beverages at kopitiam and stalls contain excessive amounts of sugar.
Snack wisely. Snacks like chips, kuih, cakes and other tid-bits are laden with fat, sugar and sodium.
When eating out, choose your food wisely. Preferably choose food cooked in clear soup, steamed, braised or roasted.