How to minimize the risks for cancer? 1. The right food…

The uncontrolled growth of cells in any part of the body is cancer. It is a group of disease. Cancer kills millions of people every year in our world. Few can be curable if diagnosed in the early stages. We can do a lot to minimize the risk of cancer. The hereditary risk factor is only about 5% to 10%. The rest comes from our lifestyle, diet and environment. We see here the many ways to reduce the cancer risks.

Food plays a vital role in the prevention of many cancers and they include the cancer of:

• Colon
• Esophagus
• Larynx
• Lung
• Oral cavity
• Prostate
• Rectum

There are many studies, but more research is still needed to know more about the exact mechanism of cancer prevention with right foods.

Fruits, vegetables and whole grains have so many phytochemicals that are useful in the prevention of cancer. We don’t know exactly what substances or which food is good since the fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain several hundred phytochemicals that can be helpful to prevent cancer. The important groups of substances that are useful include:

• Antioxidants
• Phytochemicals
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids e.g. Omega 3-fattyacids

Antioxidants – these are substances that prevent or inhibit oxidation process in the body to protect cells. The aggressive free radicals can attack the healthy cells and can change their DNA. The result is tumor growth. More research is necessary to understand the role of cancer prevention of antioxidants from the food.

The important antioxidants include:

• Vitamin C
• Beta-carotene
• Vitamin E

The food rich in these antioxidants, particularly fruits, vegetables and nuts are very important food to minimize the risk of cancer.

Phytochemicals – these are chemicals present in plants to protect them from bacteria, viruses and fungi. Phytochemicals can act as antioxidants or food protectors or prevent cancer forming substances n the body. Brightly colored fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds contain many phytochemicals. Red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple and white color fruits and vegetables are rich in phytochemicals.

The important phytochemicals include:
• Allicin – found in onions and garlic
• Anthocyanins – found in red and blue fruits and in vegetables
• Biflavonoids – found in citrus fruits
• Carotenoids – found in dark yellow, orange and deep green fruits and vegetables
• Flavonoids – found in fruits and vegetables
• Indoles – found in cruciferous vegetables
• Isoflavones – found in soybeans
• Lignins found in flaxseed and whole grains
• Lutein – found in leafy green vegetables
• Lycopene – found in tomato products and water melon
• Polyphenols – found in fruits, legumes, seeds and tea

It is important to eat the food containing these phytochemicals. We get phytochemicals only from our food. There are no supplements for phytochemicals.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids e.g. Omega 3-fattyacids – Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids belong to the group of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The Omega 3 fatty acids are:

• Alpha-linolenic acid – present in flaxseed and in walnuts
• Eicosapentaenoic acid
• Docosahexaenoic acid

The last two are present in cold water fatty fishes like salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring, halibut, striped bass and tuna. The body cannot produce these fatty acids and so must be taken from the food or from good supplements. Consult your dietician or doctor before you tank any food supplements.

Omega 3-fatty acids may reduce or prevent the risk of tumor production in the breast and prostate glands.

There are no recommended daily dietary allowance for antioxidants, phytochemicals and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Excess antioxidants can become pro-oxidants and this is bad for the health.

It is better to avoid processed food, fast food and junk food. If you can’t avoid it you must minimize the intake of these foods. As you know more than 3000 chemicals are used in the food processing industry. If an animal is butchered there is no waste. Almost everything is coming to our plate with the help of chemicals.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best. Frozen fruits and vegetables are equally good.

The above mentioned food is good not only to prevent or minimize the risk for cancer but also to prevent or minimize the risk for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and overweight and obesity.

How to minimize the risks for cancer?

The uncontrolled growth of cells in any part of the body is cancer. It is a group of disease. Cancer kills millions of people every year in our world. Few can be curable if diagnosed in the early stages. We can do a lot to minimize the risk of cancer. The hereditary risk factor is only about 5% to 10%. The rest comes from our lifestyle, diet and environment. We see here the many ways to reduce the cancer risks.

At present every third person gets some cancer in his life and one in four dies because of cancer. The number increases continuously. We must take this very seriously from the young ages. It is better to teach the primary school children about this and once learnt they will never forget in their lives.

Most cancers do not develop overnight and it can be a process of decades. This is the reason why we have to think about this big health problem very early.

Cancer prevention is easy and the important points for that include:

• The right food
• No tobacco products
• Alcohol in moderation
• Healthy weight
• Enough physical activity
• Avoid excess sun and other radiations
• Protection from viral infections
• Safe sex
• No needle sharing
• Use of hormones
• Preventive self-examinations and preventive medical checkup
• Environmental poisons
• Poisons in your home and garden
• Detoxification and free radical scavenging

The above tips are very important. What is right for you and what is not is different in different individuals. To understand this better I will write every day about one topic in detail.

Do something so that you can be happy always and enjoy your life even when you are very old. For this the foundation must be put in young years too.

If you want to assess your situation thoroughly you can have counseling. In this case you can contact me. The counseling can be in person or online.

Long working hours and the health risks…

Long working hours means you work more than 60 hours in a week. It can be a normal work time or normal work time plus overtime. Unfortunately this a reality in many countries, developed, developing or emerging. In Germany the normal weekly working hours are between 32 to 38.5 days. At the same time billions of hours of overtime is done every year. The European Union gives a maximum limit of 48 hours work in a week.

There are two risk factors in long working hours. At first the long working hours can be a problem itself. This means in these extra hours many accidents are happening. During the overtime at least 60% get hurt according to studies. Working more than 12 hours a day increases this risk more than 35%. A 60-hour week brought a 23% greater risk, the study of US records from 110,236 employment periods found. These risks were not necessarily associated with hazardous works. All are affected.

The work-related injuries are mostly cuts, burns and muscle injuries. More than half of these injuries have occurred during overtime or in the extended working hours.

There is also increased risk for health problems due to long working hours and they include:

• Depression
• Burnout syndrome
• Sleeplessness
• Back pain
• Heart problems

Long working hours are not only risky for you but also for others too. If you are too tired and make a car accident the others must also suffer. Your family suffers first. Is this the reason that the number of singles drastically increases in many countries?

We miss the social responsibility of the employers here. Interestingly the major reason for overtime is the bad organization in the working place. It is a big duty of the law-makers, trade unions and employers to find solution to this increasing problem.

One side there is millions or billions of hours overtime and the other side millions of unemployed people. This is difficult to understand for a normal person. Profit is the magic word which makes this problem. Hope bad employers get the depression first…

Is preventive medical checkup important?

People, over 40 years who go regularly to their doctor for preventive check up, live longer than the persons of the same age, who don’t do these tests.

This is the result of a study from Japan, which was published in the journal Preventive Medicine. The researchers observed eleven years the preventive check up of 50000 health insurance members.

In the group that took no heed of medical prevention, the death rate during this period is 5.5% of the participants. In the preventive check-active group, there were only about half as many deaths, 2.7%. The positive effect of preventive check up is established.

People, who go to regular preventive check up, usually have generally a healthier lifestyle. This plays a vital role in their health.

Go for the preventive medical checkup and this helps you to live longer and healthy.

I have little elevated blood sugar value? Is this a risk factor for heart diseases?

Diabetes or pre-diabetes increases the risk for heart diseases and stroke. In pre-diabetes one have slightly increased blood sugar levels. Normally people who have pre-diabetes can develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years. Moreover, both with diabetes or pre-diabetes are at risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke. With right food, weight loss and physical activity it is possible to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes and thus lower the risk of heart diseases and stroke. If necessary, the medications must also be taken.

What are the ways to minimize this risk for heart diseases and stroke? The best way is reduce the risks. The risk factors for heart diseases and stroke in people with diabetes include:

• Overweight or obesity
• Increased LDL-cholesterol
• Increased Homocysteine
• Increased Triglycerides
• High blood pressure
• Excess alcohol
• Smoking
• Family history of heart disease or stroke

We cannot change the hereditary risk. The other risks can be reduced without any problem.

The diabetes treatment is very important. It can be easily controlled with the following blood parameters. They include:

• Fasting blood sugar – less than 120 mg/dl
• Two hours after a meal – below 170 mg/dl
• HbA1c – must be below 7%
• The bad LDL-cholesterol – below 100 mg/dl
• The good HDL-cholesterol; men – above 40 mg/dl; women – above 50 mg/dl
• Triglycerides – below 150 mg/dl
• Blood pressure – below 130/80 mm Hg

This can be achieved with the right food and enough physical activities. If not, your doctor must give you medications. If the above parameters are kept in this levels people with diabetes can reduce the risk for heart diseases and stroke.