Master these four points to prevent cancer in your daily life

Master these four points to prevent cancer in your daily life

The 28th National Cancer Prevention and Control Publicity Week will be held from April 15th to 21st, 2022. This year's theme is: "Early Action for Cancer Prevention and Control".

Cancer has become a global threat to human health! One-third of cancers worldwide are preventable; approximately one million people die each year in China from completely preventable cancers, accounting for about 45% of all cancer deaths in China.

So how can we integrate cancer prevention and a healthy lifestyle into the daily lives of citizens? Dr. Wang Kai, Director of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Xi'an Red Cross Hospital, tells you how.

Scientific and reasonable diet and nutrition

A healthy diet includes: eating plenty of nutrient-rich foods, and controlling portion sizes to achieve and maintain a healthy weight; eating a variety of vegetables, including dark green, red, and orange vegetables, as well as fiber-rich legumes; eating plenty of fruit, especially whole fruits of various colors; and eating whole grains.

Unhealthy eating habits include: red and processed meats, sugary drinks, highly processed foods, and refined grains.

Limit alcohol consumption or abstain from alcohol.

Alcohol can increase the incidence of various cancers, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, and esophageal cancer. The less alcohol consumed, the lower the incidence of these cancers. If drinking alcohol cannot be avoided, it is recommended that men consume no more than 25 grams of alcohol per day, and women no more than 15 grams.

Controlling weight

Being overweight or obese can increase the risk of cancers such as liver cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. For adult women, every 5 kg increase in weight increases the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer by 11%; for adult men, every 5 kg increase increases the risk of colon cancer by 9%. Body mass index (BMI) is a good indicator for monitoring weight; it is calculated by dividing weight (in kilograms) by the square of height (in meters). A normal BMI range is 18.5 to 23.9, and it is recommended to maintain a lower BMI whenever possible.

Moderate exercise

Physical exercise can not only reduce the incidence of cancers such as breast cancer and colon cancer, as well as many chronic diseases, but also reduce the risk of death for cancer patients by about 20%. Moderate exercise should be combined with a healthy diet to achieve a balance between calorie intake and expenditure, which helps in maintaining a healthy weight. The American Cancer Society recommends that adults engage in at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, or an equivalent combination of moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity exercise per week; ideally, this should exceed 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise or 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.