Half of cancers preventable, experts say

Acorn Staff Writer
Second in a series of three



Acorn Staff Writer

Second in a series of three

It seems as though everybody knows somebody who’s had or is fighting cancer. According to some doctors, more people are being diagnosed with cancer and are seeking medical attention earlier because of greater awareness.


According to Paul J. Miller, M.D., a radiation oncologist in Thousand Oaks who’s also on the clinical faculty at UCLA, at least half of all cancers are preventable.


"If there are over 1 million cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, the improvement in our lifestyle can have a major improvement on the number of cancers diagnosed each year. However, it can take 10 to 20 years for the benefit to show up," Miller said.


Miller believes that with cancer in general, prevention and early detection is important.


"On the prevention side, the single most important thing to do is to not smoke. Smoking causes one third of all cancers and causes 80 to 90 percent of all lung cancers which is the No. 1 cancer killer for both men and women," Miller said.


In addition to never smoking, controlled or limited exposure to the sun and, most importantly, avoiding sunburns will significantly reduce the risk of skin cancers. "There is one very dangerous type of skin cancer called malignant melanoma and that cancer is increasing in frequency because of sun exposure," Miller said.


As far as other types of cancers, maintaining overall general good health with a low-fat, balanced diet and adequate exercise will reduce the risk of multiple cancers including breast cancer and prostate cancer.


"Limiting alcohol consumption to one or two beverages a day appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer and possibly stomach, pancreas and maybe esophageal cancers," Miller aid.


When asked whether eating meat can be associated with cancer, Miller said he’s not sure. "There’s some evidence that smoked meat may be the cause of an increase in stomach cancer. High fat diets in general, which are usually part of a heavy meat diet, are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer in men and colon cancer for men and women and possibly breast cancer," Miller said.


Miller went on to say that, unfortunately, some cancers simply cannot be prevented and breast cancer is one of them.


Karen Latimer from Pittsburgh was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at age 50 and said that when she first found out, she was angry and kept asking ‘‘Why me?


"Then I did all kinds of research and I talked with a bunch of other women who had also been diagnosed with breast cancer. When I found out that one out of seven women get breast cancer, I thought, ‘Why not me?’"


Cancer detection has become far more sophisticated in the last few years, and, according to Sue Benvenuto of Newbury Park who’s a breast cancer survivor, this is in great part due to doctors like Armando Juliano, M.D., at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. Juliano created the sentinal node biopsy procedure in which dye is shot into the tumor area and goes into the lymph node glands.


Benvenuto explained that if one or two of the glands light up, surgeons will go in and remove the ancillary lymph nodes. If none light up, they don’t remove any lymph nodes, which, according to Benvenuto is a big plus. "Lymphodema can occur and the arm swells up. This can be extremely debilitating to a woman and it can happen at any time," Benvenuto said.


Benvenuto went on to explain that the lymph nodes are a cleansing area. When you get an infection, it goes through the lymph system, and when you don’t have lymph nodes, it backs up.


According to Benvenuto, most surgeons remove bad lymph nodes.


"Women need to insist that this be done," she said. "I had 26 of them removed and five of them were involved in cancer. In September, I will be a seven-year breast cancer survivor," Benvenuto said.


Benvenuto warns women who have no breast cancer in their family history and may not be as concerned about this disease.


"I had no history in my family. None whatsoever. I can’t help but feel that it has to do with diet, the environment and better detection," Benvenuto said.


"People are more aware and savvy about what’s going on in their health and their lives than they were 25 years ago," she said.


Benvenuto believes that these days people are more health conscious and watch what they eat and exercise more.


"In my 20s and 30s, I ate a lot more meat than I do now. I worked out, but I do it more now than I did before," she said.


She also eats more organic foods "just to get away from the pesticides and the stuff we use on our vegetables and fruits."


"Some women have microscopic tumors, and if it took 10 years to get to that point, you have to look back and say, ‘What was I doing 10 years ago?’" Benvenuto said.


After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Benvenuto recalls her sister calling her to tell her about a study that linked antiperspirant use to breast cancer.


"I changed to deodorant, but there are now studies out there that say this wasn’t true," she said.


Miller believes that there’s no solid evidence that can make an association between antiperspirant and cancer.


"The reality is that we still don’t understand what causes breast cancer. Up to 20 percent may be hereditary. The remaining 80 to 90 percent are random (occurrences) and are related to the environment, but we do not understand what triggers them," Miller said.





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