Young and at Risk

New studies show that your age alone isn't an indicator of your cancer risk.

More on:

• Lose the Weight
• Your Medical Care
• Colon Cancer
• Parenting Teens
• Generation Y
• Fight Disease

How much you weigh and how old you are have a major effect on cancer risk, according to new studies: In adults under 45, tonsil and tongue cancers seem to be rising, due in part to the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). The HPV vaccine may one day help prevent some of these cancers.

You can't change your age, but you can -- and should -- control your weight. Most people don't get screened for colon cancer until they're 50 (if at all), but the disease is on the rise in men younger than that. One likely reason: the obesity epidemic. Last November, authors of a major cancer report said that excess fat was linked to increased risk for six types, including colon cancer. The following month, another study found overweight and obese men with prostate cancer are nearly twice as likely to die as thinner patients. You know the drill: Diet and exercise to drop those deadly pounds.

From Reader's Digest - February 2008

 

• 31 Simple Ways to Prevent Cancer
• Small changes to inoculate yourself against the Big C.
• 
• Colon Cancer: Are You at Risk?
• A brief guide to the risk factors associated with colorectal cancer.
• 
• Detect Cancer at the Treatable Stage
• Essential annual screenings are integral to cancer prevention.
• 
• Online Cancer Resources
• A guide to up-to-date cancer research and information
• 
• Foods That Fight Disease
• Food can do much more than taste good; it can help you fight many serious diseases.
• 

A couple of hours into a visit with my mother she noticed I hadn't lit up a cigarette once. "Are you trying to kick the habit?"

"No," I replied, "I've got a cold and I don't smoke when I'm not feeling well."

"You know," she observed, "you'd probably live longer if you were sick more often."

-- Ian A. Hammel

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