Cancer prevention essay

Cancer is a non-contagious illness brought on by the body’s aberrant cell proliferation. One of the most serious diseases in the world is one where the cells typically have the ability to spread to other sections of the body. There are numerous cancer forms; some are gender-specific while others are not (World cancer report, 2014). Breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, throat cancer, and many more types of cancer are among them. The main reason for spread of cancer is due to metastatic tumors, these are tumors that are capable of spreading from their point of origin to other parts of the body (Peter, 2015). Cancer is therefore the result of cells that grow uncontrollably and refuse to die. Normal body cells follow the same procedure of growth, division and death.

Causes of the cancer include carcinogens, genes categorized into family and DNA type and other medical conditions. Not forgetting, age is a very important risk factor in causing cancer diseases. Signs and symptoms of cancer can be quite varied depending on the type. Some types of cancer present signs and symptoms that are physically apparent while others do not. For example, a lump on breast or testicles can indicate presence of cancer on these parts of the body (Peter, 2015). Some of the available treatments for cancer include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery, radiation, gene therapy and hormone therapy. A number of research methods have been proposed by scientists to prevent the spread of cancer disease. People have been on the look for ways of naturally preventing the spread of cancer

Metastasis prevention

Metastasis remains to be the major cause of death in cancer patients. Metastasis is the most dangerous aspect of cancer that results from interconnection of processes that include Cell adhesion, angiogenesis, proliferation and migration to the nearby cells. This remains to be the main destructive feature of cancer. Because this remains to be the major cause of death in cancer patients, its inhibition is a very important move in preventing the spread of cancer. Several epidemiological studies that include in vivo and in vitro experiment have confirmed that consuming green tea lowers cancer risk. According to Naghma and Hassan (2010), there is an essential element in the green tea called epigallotechin that inhibits angiogenesis and tumor invasion which are essential processes in tumor growth. I will give an example of how polyphenolic compounds of the green tea preventing invasion by the cancerous tumors.

Tea from Camellia sinensis is most consumed as black tea. This tea has polyphenolic compounds such as epigallotechin and epucatechin among others. Some of these polyphenolic compounds have been reported to cause down regulating proteins that are responsible for invasiveness by causing modulation of multiple signal pathways. Through the above process, Metastasis will be inhibited and thereby preventing the spread of cancer in patients that ultimately leads to death (Naghma and Hassan, 2010).

Avoiding smoking

This is one of the ways people can reduce risk to developing skin cancer. Health of the person’s can be improved by avoiding smoking completely. An individual can seek professional knowledge on how to quit smoking. This platform gives them the chance to quit smoking completely. Quitting of smoking reduces the risks of cancers of the throat, lungs, larynx and esophagus. Quitting smoking within the 5 years cuts the chances of getting these cancers by half. As well, ten years after one has quit smoking, the chances of dying from lung cancer are reduced by half. According to studies in U.S, if people were not smoking, one thirds of deaths would have not occurred. Through avoiding smoking, individuals can prevent spread of cancer through changing the risk factors that they can control. If an individual stops smoking before developing cancer, the damaged lung tissues will begin repairing (Arthur band Norman 1995). No matter the period that has been taken smoking, avoiding smoking lowers to risk of cancer and may help to live longer. It has also been established that that creating limits to secondhand exposure helps to lower the risk of cancer

Keeping a healthy diet

Making a healthy selection at the grocery not only reduce the risk to cancel but also prevents it. It is important to observe guidelines to ensure that the goals for a healthy diet are achieved. For example, it is important to avoid obesity. This can be done by eating low calorie food that is lean and light. A great percentage of people do not know that obesity is linked to cancer. Some of the foods that have high likelihood of causing cancer include red meat (Key, 2011).

People can also limit the amount of processed meat that they consume. According to World Health Organization, eating large amounts of processed meat can increase risk of developing some types of cancer. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is also essential as focus should be made on grains. People should incorporate fruits and vegetables in their eating habits. These are nutritive elements and moreover, they have low calorie. Eating less salt is also very essential in preventing the spread of cancer. Eating a lot of salts increases the risks of stomach cancer and spread (Peter, 2015). Consumption of salt preserved foods should be avoided e.g. salted meat. It is important to base food on fruits and vegetables because they are salt free and lack salt preservative contents. As well, it’s also important to check and consider the salt content in processed food.

Keeping a healthy weight

According to Key (2011), keeping a healthy weight helps in lowering the risk of cancer. This can be done by incorporating lifestyle changes that can lead to reduction in body weight. It is important to develop long-term healthy habits which can include a healthy diet and adopting fitness exercise to improve one’s health. It is important to watch weight because we know the dangers that are associated with it.

It is also important to adopt measures that keep the individual healthy through changes in lifestyle by keeping a weight as low within a healthy range. Healthy eating reduces the chances of getting obesity. Obesity can also be avoided by taking low calorie foods. This can be done by eating food with less sugar content. Harmful diets needs to be avoided.

Being physical activity

Studies have indicated that a third of cancer deaths are due to obesity and sedentary lifestyle, this is from analysis on the cause of breast and prostate cancer. It’s evident that cancer can be trimmed through exercise. Physical activity reduces risk of several cancers.

Adults who participate in physical activity are liable to enjoy some health benefits. People should strive to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity in a day for a week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity in a week. Fixed daily routine of 30 minutes of physical activity should be made. In this way, it will prevent obesity which is a risk factor for many types of cancer and other non communicable diseases.

In women, physical activity can lower the level of estrogen that is responsible to cause breast cancer in women. Through physical activity reducing this hormone helps to reduce the level of the risk of developing cancer. This hormone insulin can also be reduced through physical activity. Lowering insulin insulin levels can help prevent some types of cancer. Through physical activity, the person will be able to avoid developing obesity that can ultimately cause cancer in the person.

Getting immunized

Cancer protection include protection from some viral immunized. Individuals should seek immunization against Hepatitis B. This disease is harmful and can develop the risk for liver cancer. Its immunization is therefore recommended for some high risk adults. The high risk groups include those people working for the health sector, intravenous drug users and people with sexually transmitted infections (Varrichio, 2004).

Some doctors give prevention to healthy vaccines to healthy individuals to keep some types of cancers away, the two types of cancer vaccines that are approved by the U.S include Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and Hepatitis B vaccine. HPV vaccine protects the person from human papilloma virus. The vaccine can protect the person from vaginal cancer, cervical, anal, vulva and genital cancer. Hepatitis B vaccine protects the person from Hepatitis B infection. Cancer vaccines can be administered through immunotherapy. These vaccines will work by increasing the immunity of body to fight against cancer by stopping tumor, preventing cancer from re-infecting and to destroy cancer cells present in the body.

The role of genetics in passing the disease cancer

Genetic family lineage also plays a very important role in the transference of cancer. This happens through family history inheritance of cancer. Some people will have a high risk of developing cancer because they have inherited the gene that is able to cause cancer. This will be able to happen because of DNA mutation. Inside every cell, there is a nucleus which contains pairs of chromosomes which are 23 in number. These chromosomes are made up genes that appear in their coded forms. Human genetic are arranged in triplet forms called codons. These coded messages are the determinants of character and they dictate how the individual behaves. These genes also determine how the body develops and grows.

Cancers in the body will develop because something has gone wrong in the body, most likely in the genes that determine all kinds of biological growth. Faults in the gene at a high level can make a cell to become cancerous, after which it can divide and grow in uncontrollable manner. Cancer develops due to random mistakes that happen to us in our lifetime. Sometimes these cancers may develop due to exposures to environmental factors which alter the genetic makeup. An example of such exposures is cigarette. These substances that cause gene to change are called carcinogens, carcinogens cannot be inherited but they can cause gene mutations (Varricchio, 2004).

The genes that increase the risk of cancer can be passed from one generation to another. This basically happens when that gene is present in the egg. The faulty gene can therefore be passed to the children. These genes can be described as cancer susceptible genes because they increase the risk of developing the disease. These genes do protect humans from acquiring cancerous diseases by correcting DNA damage during cell division. When cancer susceptibility genes are inherited, it means that the individual to whom the gene is transferred cannot repair the damaged DNA cells during cell division process. This implies that the cell might develop cancer in some stages of life. These genes can be inherited from either parents and this means every child 1 in 2 chances of inheriting the disease (Joe 2012). Being born with cancer susceptibility cells doesn’t mean that one will automatically get the disease, but they will have a higher risk of developing the disease compared to other populations.

Conclusion

Different research methods have been used in the prevention of spread of cancer. Some of the above methods have been successfully used by the researcher to monitor cancer prevalence in a population. In conclusion, the above methods of cancer prevention have been adopted and have been successful in reducing occurrence of cancer. It is therefore necessary to adopt such measures to reduce morbidity and mortality of this disease.

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References

Arthur L.B and Norman N. (1995). Prostate cancer Survivor’s Speak Their Minds.

Joe L. (2012). A side of internal medicine.

Key T. (2011). Fruit and vegetables and cancer risk.

Naghma K. and Hassan M. (2010). Cancer and Metastasis.

Peter C. (2015). Cancer: Facts, causes, symptoms and Research.

Varricchio G. (2004). A cancer source book for nurses. Boston: Jones and

Bartlett Publishers.

World Cancer Report (2014).