Lifestyle changes are causing Cancer! by Medimanage.com
What do female rockers Sheryl Crowe and Kylie Minouge have in common with the late television actrors Priya Tendulkar, Jade Goody, Patrick Swayze and cycling legend Lance Armstrong, other than the fact that they are famous? They all have been victims of Cancer at some or the other time in their lives! While some lost their battles against Cancer, others have come out victors and proud survivors.
Cancer as such is highly unpredictable, with around 200 types of Cancers having been indentified till date we are yet to find a complete and total cure for it. If that piece of news scares you, here’s something scarier for you, your Lifestyle can now cause Cancer too! Surprised? So were we, but on taking a closer look at our 21st century lifestyles, we found that there was nothing to be surprised about!
What is this 21st century lifestyle?
Even though the 21st century has a fancy sound to it, there’s nothing fancy about it. Sure it has given us a plethora of inventions that have made our life easy and bearable, medicines and treatments which have resulted in an increase in our life spans! But at the same time we have had to contend with increased environmental pollution, hectic lifestyles and stressful work conditions etc, which have all contributed to the shortening of our life expectancy! Comparing lifestyles with our 1950s counterparts, we would be surprised at how high our chances of developing cancer are! A study conducted by University of Illinois Medical Center stated that globally, there has been a whopping 44% rise in cancer occurrences and this figure is likely to increase with every passing decade.
With its advent, the 21st century has gifted us carcinogenic triggers such as Trans fats, free radicals, chemical pollutants along with newer brands of cigarette’s, artificial sweeteners, obesity due to lack of activity and many other such triggers for Cancer!
How is our lifestyle causing Cancer?
There has been a huge change in our lifestyles since the 1950′s. Back in the 50′s life was slow, as compared to today less hectic, people were far more active then and diets were healthy too! Indians have undergone a drastic lifestyle change in the past few decades. We now have cars which have greatly reduced our physical activity, an increase in number of smokers and junk food along with Trans fats have replaced our healthy traditional diet! Industrialization has seen pollution and free radicals enter our air streams and chemical effluents from various factories are making our water unfit to drink. All these factors are posing a very serious threat to our health, that of Cancer!
Here’s a closer look at some of our current lifestyle factors, which can lead to Cancer
Increase in Sugar consumption
Ever heard the saying “Sugar feeds Cancer”? Well, it’s true! Cancer cells need Glucose to thrive and with our increased sugar intake we are providing nothing but fuel to them! We Indians love indulging our proverbial sweet tooth with an alarming regularity by means of the Mithai’s or our daily Chai, the gajar ka halwa, thereby increasing our risk of developing Cancer. To cut down our risk of Cancer, we need to control our glucose levels by watching our diets, exercising regularly and through prescription medicines.
Salty much?
The recommended intake of sodium for any adult over 18 years of age is 6 gms, again our salt thirsty taste buds with their excessive need for salt push have pushed up our daily intake to an alarming 8-12 gms per day! This high sodium content in our diet increases our risk of Stomach Cancers. Salt consumption can be controlled by watching the amount of salt we consume in our daily diet and by avoiding junk food!
Junk Food is just that, Junk!
A heartfelt advice to our fellow Indians would be, to trash that junk food. A major outcome of lifestyle changes experienced by India is the rapid increase in Junk Food consumption. Junk food, fast food, street food is all the same when it comes to excessive use of salt, sugar, trans fat and preservatives like MSG- used to add flavor, sodium nitrites-used to give color and preserve the food, Food dye’s or edible colors along with Potassium Bromate are known to cause cancers in humans when consumed in excess!
Unhealthy Diet is really unhealthy!
Today a major lifestyle change has found us Indians eating out regularly. Foods like Pizza, burgers, pasta, pav bhaji, Chinese has replaced our traditional nutritious fare! Our body requires anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and enzymes to fight Cancer, instead by eating out we are consuming more Trans fats, preservatives and other carcinogenic substances! A well balanced diet which will boost our immune systems against Cancer should contain more of vegetables (preferably green leafy vegetables) along with foods high in anti-oxidants and less or red meats and foods laced with preservative.
Chemicals, they are everywhere!
Industrialization has been responsible for the presence of chemicals everywhere around us. In a 1978 report by the U.S President’s Council on Environmental Quality states that most researchers agree that 70 – 90 cancers are caused by environmentally present carcinogens! From Chlorine present in the water to cancer causing chemicals present in cosmetic products such as benzyl acetate, methylene chloride etc, we even have cancer causing chemicals, present in the air that we breathe, released by the exhaust fumes from our cars! Let’s not forget
With the high levels of air, water and soil pollution we have in India, it’s no wonder that we have some of the highest incidences of Cancer in India! To read more Lifestyle changes are causing Cancer! by Medimanage.com