Eight Most Common Ways to Prevent Pediatric Cancer

First, the obvious one: Don't use tobacco, and don't allow anyone else to smoke around your kids. I know, easier said than done, but four out of five cancers are caused by tobacco. The poison in tobacco damages DNA, increasing the incidence of 14 different cancers, including lung, some leukemia, voice box, throat, liver, kidney... Smoking alone increases the risk of cancer by 25%. The side smoke emitted from the burning end of a cigarette contains 3 times that of carbon monoxide, 10 times that of nitrosamine and hundreds of times that of ammonia of the exhaled smoke. Add to this that if you smoke, your child's chance of becoming a daily addict increases by 25 times, increasing their risk even more. just do not. No excuse is not enough.

Also Known As: Protect Them From Sunburn To Prevent Skin Cancer. Use at least SPF15 and reapply throughout the day. Look for shade during peak hours. Stick a hat on their head that paints their face, and a pair of sunglasses on their nose. Feed them a healthy diet with lots of fiber, fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed meats and red meats and high in salt. A healthy diet helps your body remove harmful chemicals, prevent and repair damage to DNA, and prevent the formation of cancer-causing chemicals. A less healthy diet has been linked to breast, mouth, esophagus and GI cancers.

Encourage exercise. Exercise stabilizes the levels of hormones like estrogen and insulin that have been linked to cancer. An active lifestyle reduces the incidence of breast, bowel and uterine cancer. Keep them at a healthy body weight. Fatty tissue produces hormones that affect the way cells grow. Cell overgrowth is at the root of cancer. Obesity has been linked to breast cancer, esophagus and bowel cancer, and cancers of the liver, kidney, pancreas, and uterus.

Limit their exposure to chemicals. Indoor insecticides have recently been shown to increase the risk of children's leukemia by up to 47%. Be aware of chemicals you may be exposed to at your job, wear proper safety gear, and don't poison your clothing – cancer-causing chemicals such as arsenic, benzene, and asbestos are still used in industry. Check the instructions for use (do they need to be used in a well-ventilated area?) and the ingredients in the products you use at home. You can check for harmful ingredients in household products at nih.gov. Store household chemicals such as cleaners, paints, degreasers and strippers securely with the top up and down.

In the "be a good example" category: Limit your alcohol consumption. Alcohol increases the amount of cancer-causing chemicals in your body and affects hormone levels. It also increases the toxic effects of tobacco. Drinking alcohol increases your risk of breast, mouth, throat and bowel cancer.

Avoid certain types of infections. Infection can increase the risk of cancer by causing chronic inflammation and suppressing the immune system. Hep B increases your child's risk, so get them vaccinated, and teach them to avoid IV drugs and indiscriminate sex. Beware of tattoos: Hep C also increases risk, and 41% of that comes from tattoos. Helicobacter pylori increases the risk of cancer – doctors see this with reflux disease, gastritis, and ulcers. Human papillomavirus makes cells divide rapidly (hence the appearance of the wart). We lose 4000 women annually to preventable cervical cancer, and the incidence of oral cancer caused by HPV is increasing dramatically. The CDC recently announced that the vaccine has reduced the incidence of HPV in teens by 2/3. Get your child the HPV vaccine when he is 11 or 12 years old.

Cancer risk factors seem to be hardest when a baby is still in the womb, and adolescence when their bodies are rapidly growing and changing, so these are the times when parents are most fully able to prevent cancer. can influence.

A healthy lifestyle stacks the decks in your child's favor, dramatically reducing their chances of getting cancer. Protect them from sunburns and venom-causing cancers, get them vaccinated, establish good habits, and be a good example. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and limiting exposure to toxins have no downside, and may increase their chances of hanging on for a while.