It’s no secret that the things we do, or don’t do, every day play a role in determining how healthy we are.

And this is especially true when it comes to cancer.

In fact, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), up to 50 percent of all cancer cases in the United States could be completely eliminated simply by making simple lifestyle changes.

Here are the five changes they say are most important in cancer prevention…

Cancer’s modifiable risk factors

Their numbers come from a study of 1.78 million cancer cases from 2019 among US adults 30 years and over.

And they found that across the board, your chances of developing or dying from the disease can be dramatically reduced by making simple decisions that make your life healthier.

The researchers discovered that in 19 out of the 30 cancer types they studied, more than half of cases and deaths were linked to potentially modifiable risk factors.

These modifiable risk factors included:

• Cigarette smoking – Hands-down, this habit had the largest proportion of cancer cases attributable to it at a whopping 19.3 percent of cases overall. It’s never too late to quit.
• Excess body weight – Carrying around extra weight was associated with 7.6 percent of cancer cases.
• Alcohol consumption – Drinking was a risk factor in 5.4 percent of cases.
• UV radiation exposure – Sun exposure led to 4.6 percent of cases in the study.
• Physical inactivity – A sedentary lifestyle was directly linked to 3.1 percent of cancer cases.

In other words, if we would all avoid smoking, limit UV exposure and the amount of alcohol we drink while getting active and maintaining a healthy weight — 50 percent of cancer cases in the U.S. would simply disappear.

What’s behind it? Epigenetics.

The field of Epigenetics tells us that our environment, what we do, how we live, what we are exposed to and what we eat, can affect how our genes express themselves. That means if you have genes for a certain cancer, it’s not necessarily written in stone. By the same logic, if you have great genes, bad lifestyle factors could influence good genes to go bad.

More cancer protection

Now imagine if there was even more you could do to guard against cancer…

The good news is that you don’t have to imagine hard because science has already offered us a multitude of natural options, from foods and drinks to supplements.

Just a few include:

#1 – Avoiding low-quality foods

Research has shown that eating low-nutrient foods, like potato chips, sodas and refined flour could be causing the current cancer epidemic. In men, these foods were linked to colorectal cancer, cancer of the upper digestive tract and respiratory tract, stomach cancer and lung cancer. For women, they led to a higher risk of liver cancer and postmenopausal breast cancer.

#2 – Adding in anthocyanin-rich foods

Purple veggies and other foods packed with anthocyanins could hold the anti-cancer key we’ve all been looking for. That’s because studies have found that these molecules are capable of keeping cancer cells from spreading.

#3 – Drinking green tea

Researchers discovered epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant found in green tea, may increase levels of a natural anticancer protein known as p53. This protein guards the genome through its ability to repair DNA damage or destroy cancerous cells—and experts say it’s “arguably the most important protein in human cancer.”

#4 – Taking omega-3’s

Omega-3s are one of the most valuable weapons we currently have against cancer-causing inflammation. Not only that, they turn on genes that power up the immune system and block tumor growth.

Sources:

Almost 50%t of Cancer Deaths in US May Be Preventable, Study Finds — Science Alert