We all know cancer is a frightening illness which has taken the world to very high distress affecting a huge chunk of the population, an unwanted illness that affects far too many of the world’s population today. One of the scariest things about this deadly ailment, however, is that doctors today seem to be having little idea about what causes cancer cases. We’ve assumed many varied culprits, from medications to sunscreens and so on. We’ve accused certain jobs, specific fumes, and lifestyle choices, but a recent Canadian study sheds more light on this subject, suggesting that cancer actually is a lifestyle disease that is hugely influenced by the foods we eat

We all know cancer is a frightening illness which has taken the world to very high distress affecting a huge chunk of the population, an unwanted illness that affects far too many of the world’s population today. One of the scariest things about this deadly ailment, however, is that doctors today seem to be having little idea about what causes cancer cases. We’ve assumed many varied culprits, from medications to sunscreens and so on. We’ve accused certain jobs, specific fumes, and lifestyle choices, but a recent Canadian study sheds more light on this subject, suggesting that cancer actually is a lifestyle disease that is hugely influenced by the foods we eat

The Canadian Cancer Study

“We estimated summary population attributable risk estimates for 24 risk factors (smoking [both passive and active], overweight and obesity, inadequate physical activity, diet [inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, inadequate fibre intake, excess red and processed meat consumption, salt consumption, inadequate calcium and vitamin D intake], alcohol, hormones [oral contraceptives and hormone therapy], infections [Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human papillomavirus, Helicobacter pylori], air pollution, natural and artificial ultraviolet radiation, radon and water disinfection by-products) by combining population attributable risk estimates for each of the 24 factors that had been previously estimated.”

This remarkably detailed list outlines many personal choices human beings knowingly make, understanding that they increase one’s risk of cancer, as well as pointing out foods that directly increase one’s risk of getting cancer. Add in exercise and environmental factors, and you learn that a great deal of cancer-causing things are entirely avoidable!

The study goes on to say that:

“Overall, we estimated that 40.8% of incident cancer cases were attributable to exposure to the 24 factors included in the analysis (Table 2). Tobacco smoking was responsible for the greatest cancer burden, accounting for an estimated 15.7% of all incident cancer cases (2485 cases), followed by physical inactivity and excess body weight, which were responsible for an estimated 7.2% and 4.3% of incident cancer cases, respectively. All other exposures of interest were estimated to be responsible for less than 4.0% of incident cancer cases each.”

Canadian Study Gives More Evidence Cancer Is A Lifestyle Disease Largely Caused By Food.

Dr. Kalpana Shekhawat M.D.

Functional Medicine Specialist