Do you want to do what you can to reduce your risk of cancer? A new study points to some specific actions you can take, and how much of a difference they can make.
A study from the American Cancer Society, published Thursday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, found that more than 40 percent of all cancer deaths among adults ages 30 and older in the United States may be linked to lifestyle risks that can be changed.
The most impactful of these risk factors are:
On Friday’s “CBS Mornings,” CBS News chief medical reporter Dr. Jon LaPook said this study is a good lesson in moderation.
“You’re born, you live, and you die. In that middle part, you have to have some fun, so everything in moderation, including excess,” he said. He believes this research could also empower people to take control of their health.
“One of the problems is that people feel like they’re losing control. Cancer is a scary thing for many of us first of all — ‘It has to be genetically“…and there’s nothing I can do about it.’ No, there’s a lot you can do about it,” LaPook said.
So what exactly can people do based on the findings? For starters, avoid cigarettes, which account for 30% of deaths attributable to a modifiable lifestyle change.
“We know it’s hard to quit smoking. It’s easier to never start smoking. So I would say a report like this should just emphasize that people are giving them an incentive to say, ‘You know what, I’m never going to start smoking,'” he said.
There are also a number of simple preventive measures that have been proven effective, including taking certain vaccines And screenings.
“There’s some very low-hanging fruit. For example, the human papillomavirus, which is HPV — we know it causes cervical cancer in women and cancer of the back of the tongue and throat in men. There’s a vaccine against it “They can prevent HPV, but less than 40 percent of eligible children actually get the vaccine,” he said.
Hepatitis Ca virus that can cause liver cancer is another example.
“Only 40 percent of Americans know they have it, even though there’s an easy cure, actually — eight to 12 weeks of a pill. But they don’t know because they don’t get the routine screening test that the CDC has recommended, at least once in a lifetime, for people over 18,” LaPook explained.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one reason for the disruption of routine screenings, something LaPook said he saw in his own practice.
“(People) didn’t go to the doctor… and then you didn’t have the mammogramsyou didn’t have the colonoscopiesyou didn’t have the routine screenings for skin examinations“It’s coming back a little bit now, but it’s definitely down,” he said.