Each year, vast amounts of money are spent on cancer research and treatments and millions of people suffer with this most dreaded disease. There is still much we don’t know about it, but one thing we do know is that lifestyle plays an important role in the development of cancer.
I’ve been telling my patients for years that a healthy lifestyle will reduce their risk of cancer, as well as heart disease and other degenerative diseases, and a recent study published in the JAMA Oncology Journal documents lifestyle’s protective effect.
The study controlled for smoking, alcohol consumption, BMI (body mass index, or maintaining a healthy weight) and exercise habits. It concluded that most lung cancer cases and more than a fifth of colon, pancreatic and kidney cancer cases were attributable to lifestyle. They further estimated that for women, 41 percent of cancer cases and 59 percent of cancer deaths were preventable, and for men, 63 percent of cancer cases and 67 percent of cancer deaths were preventable.
And this study only controlled for the most basic aspects of a healthy lifestyle. It didn’t take into consideration the actual make-up of the diet – concentration of nutrients, fiber, animal products, organic foods, nor did it consider supplementation, air quality, stress levels, second hand smoke and more. Imagine what the numbers might look like had all these factors been taken into consideration.
There are certainly cancers that have a strong genetic component and others that seem unrelated to lifestyle, but for those forms which do show a strong relationship to lifestyle, wouldn’t it make sense to do all you can to avoid them? At Wantagh Woods Chiropractic and Wellness, we’ve been coaching our clients in weight loss, nutrition and exercise for as long as we’ve been seeing clients. This study just documents what we’ve been saying all along. Let us help you to feel your best, and stay that way!