44% Preventable

What is 44% preventable?  Cancer according to this study.  That statistic is according to the study published by The American Cancer Society’s journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. I’ll give you the top bullets below but first, I will tell you that I strongly believe they are incorrect.  I live with the assumption that close to 80% of all diseases, including cancer are preventable.

Here are the top modifiable factors listed in the study, repurposed from the article from HEALTH: Study: Nearly Half of All Cancer Cases in the U.S. Are Linked to Risk Factors We Can Control

• They found that of the 1,781,649 million cases, 713,340—or four in 10—were attributable to factors people could potentially control. About 44%, or 262,000, of the deaths resulted from these risk factors.
• Smoking cigarettes was the leading contributor to cancer cases.  the study found that smoking still contributed to 19% of cancer cases and almost 29% of cancer-related deaths.
• Excess body weight accounted for the second-highest proportion of cases, at almost 8%
• followed by drinking alcohol (5%)
• exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays (almost 5%)
• physical inactivity (3%)

So where did I come up with the 80% number compared to the 44% found in this study?  Factors that were NOT measured in the original study.

• Environmental toxins – Pesticides, plastics, chronic exposure to mold…
• Socioeconomic factors- Poor access to healthcare, poor food quality
• Chronic exposure to emotional stress

I believe these,” BIG three”, alone boost those numbers and are endemic in our country.

We can find studies that show thousands of modifiable cancer risk factors. Modifiable means that if you know what they are, then you could choose to avoid them.  That is not an easy task though.

I use the line, You can run but you can’t hide repeatedly.  I guess you conceivably could avoid all the risks but I also know that would make you miserable.  You’d have to live scared to eat, drink, or breathe in anything.  That isn’t how I want to live, and I bet you feel the same way.

What I want you to think about is just how much risk are you willing to take.  My threshold is lower than most people, so I wind up living a relative to most, healthy lifestyle.  If you want to decrease your risk factors, take a look at the bullets above and decide where you are going to improve.  The patient base that works with me and tends to read these emails have already reduced their risk to the factors above.

If you have, can you do BETTER?  Do you want to do BETTER?  If you create more emotional stress improving your lifestyle, then you may not even benefit from the changes.  The first thing every one of us needs to do is to figure out WHY it’s important enough to educate ourselves and make changes.  Then the next step is the importance of fully committing to that change for a long enough period of time to where it seems easy.  AFTER you’ve adopted a lifestyle change for a long period there’s no change left.  It’s simply what you do and who you are.

Want some guidance on how to make your life Better?  Reach out to me this week!