Fight Cancer with Lifestyle Changes

Do you feel helpless against the threat of cancer? For nearly half of all Americans, it seems as if almost everything causes cancer, a 2007 survey found. More than a quarter of us feel there’s not much we can do to prevent it. And nearly three-quarters believe there are so many recommendations that it’s hard to know which ones to heed.

Yet that’s not true. People can focus on a number of specific steps, says survey author Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., a health and society scholar in Madison, Wis.

Research shows a healthy lifestyle can cut your lifetime risk of cancer—and raise your odds of surviving if you get it. Obesity, lack of physical activity, and poor nutrition cause about one in three cancer deaths. Only tobacco causes more.

Here’s what you can do to reduce your risk:

Eat healthy

The relation between the foods you eat and cancer risk is complex. A lot of questions must still be answered. But there is strong evidence that those who eat a healthy diet with an emphasis on plant sources have less chance of contracting some of the most common cancers.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) suggests you focus on getting at least five daily servings of a variety of fruit and vegetables and eating whole grains. For protein, choose fish, poultry, or beans rather than red and processed meats. Opt for smaller portions, particularly of meats and other high-calorie foods.

Get moving

Adults should do at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity at least five days a week, the ACS says. To reduce colon and breast cancer risk, 45 to 60 minutes is better. Exercise also helps you stay at a healthy weight. That reduces your risk of cancers tied to obesity.

Marilie Gammon, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in Chapel Hill, N.C., cites one example. “Being physically active will reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer,” she says. “We’ve also found that women who are physically active at the time they are diagnosed with breast cancer are less likely to die” of it.

Control weight

Being overweight or obese plays a role in 14 to 20 percent of all cancer-related deaths, the ACS says. That includes cancers of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, and kidney.

“Both being overweight or obese and weight gain during adulthood are associated with a higher risk for several cancers,” says Marji McCullough, Sc.D., R.D., an ACS nutritional epidemiologist. “It’s important to maintain an ideal body weight throughout your life.”

Dr. Gammon cowrote a 2005 study that found losing weight after age 20 reduced a woman’s risk of breast cancer.

Don’t smoke

It may come as no surprise that smoking causes 87 percent of all lung cancer deaths. But smoking ups your risk for at least 14 other types of cancer, too, including throat, stomach, and kidney cancer.

Get screenings

When 11 of the 18 major cancers are found early, their five-year survival rates range from 90 to 100 percent. Survival plummets for more advanced cancer.

Yet less than half of people 50 and older have had a recent colorectal screening. And the share of women older than 40 who have had a mammogram in the past two years recently fell to 66 percent.

Don’t get too much sun

Cover up, use lots of sunscreen, and make sure your family avoids bad sunburns, especially while young. Too much exposure to ultraviolet rays caused more than a million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancers last year. Doctors found nearly 60,000 cases of more serious melanoma.

Avoid environmental triggers

The culprits may include cancer-linked chemicals on the job and in the home. A lot of contact with secondhand tobacco smoke, pesticides, and dioxins might raise your risk, for example. Ask your employer about materials you handle. Test your home for radon. Read the labels of household products.

On the whole, most authorities suggest a well-rounded diet rather than supplements. In fact, two of three studies of one supplement, the antioxidant beta-carotene, concluded that high doses actually increased smokers’ lung cancer risk.

4 foods that may help — and 4 that may hinder

You should enjoy:

• Cruciferous vegetables: Cabbage family members, such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and kale, may lower the risk of colorectal and prostate cancer.

• Lycopene-bearing fruits and vegetables: Tomatoes and fruits with this antioxidant, including apricots, pink grapefruit, and watermelon, may cut the risk of cancer, especially of the lung, stomach, and prostate. Some new research, though, questions the prostate health link.

• Whole grains: Choose whole-grain rice, bread, pasta, and cereals. A diet high in whole grains and other plant foods may help prevent colon and other cancers.

• Water: Drink at least eight cups of water and other liquids a day to reduce your bladder cancer risk.

Limit your intake of:

• Alcohol: It causes cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, liver, and breast. The risk rises sharply for women who exceed one drink a day and men who drink more than two.

• Red meats: They’re linked with higher risk of colon, stomach, and advanced-stage prostate cancers.

• Processed meats: They, too, are tied to higher risk of colon, stomach, and advanced-stage prostate cancers. Nitrate and nitrite preservatives may play a role.

• Fried foods: They provide extra calories that can lead to obesity.