Learning About New Ways To Prevent Cancer

In this week’s edition of the Cancer Pro blog, we’re going to take a moment to consider how you might hear of any new treatments or lifestyle changes that might help prevent all types of cancer.

Can cancer be prevented?

Without a doubt, in certain instances, the number of cancer cases diagnosed around the world could be lowered. If everyone tomorrow stopped smoking, controlled their weight, got plenty of physical exercises, and took other steps to improve their overall health. But, of course, that’s one mighty big ‘if.’

Despite continuous research, there is no guaranteed way to prevent cancer

Despite the hard work carried out by thousands of highly trained doctors and scientists from around the world and the billions of dollars that have been invested in cancer research, at this moment in time nothing has been found that’s proven to prevent all types of cancer.

Saying that, right now, doctors through research have identified that there are ways to help prevent many cancers in large groups of people. And there are things you can do as an individual that might help reduce the risk of getting cancer. But, as of today, even the best methods to try to reduce the risk of cancer (called cancer risk reduction) cannot prevent all cancers.

Early detection does help to save lives

However, there is no doubt that early detection tests can improve the odds of finding specific types of cancer when they are at an early stage and when they’re small and more comfortable to treat. But, it’s not a guaranteed solution, because while early detection does often prevent death by cancer, it rarely prevents cancer.

How and where you might hear about something new to prevent cancer

Imagine the scenario, you’ve just read, seen, or heard something new that might possibly reduce your risk of getting cancer, something you haven’t learned about before, and because you’re worried about getting cancer, you may wonder if this might work for you – what do you do?

Well, before you put your money, time, and energy on the line, you really need to do your research and find out more about these new prevention methods so you can decide if they’re worth it. Because it’s likely that at the point you hear or read about them, you are probably not sure if they will help to reduce your risk of cancer, or if it could even harm you.

So with that in mind here are some of the new things you might hear about cancer prevention and how you can find out more information on them.

New Approved Drugs

For example, this new method you’ve heard of maybe a medicine or vaccine that your doctor recommends to reduce your risk of cancer. So in this instance, it’s pretty easy to find out more about approved drugs and vaccines, since many trustworthy online sources can help you find out more, and other sources can help, too.

Methods being studied for approval

It may be the case that the method you heard about hasn’t yet been approved, but is “in the pipeline” to become a mainstream cancer prevention method in the future.

It may be a pill, a treatment, or something similar. In this case, it’s usually not too hard to find information online about these kinds of treatments. If the treatment has been approved for medical use, you can generally find useful information on the risks and the side effects. But because it’s in development, it may be harder to find out about how well it works for cancer prevention.

Non-prescription herbs, supplements, diets, and unique treatments

Different methods you might also hear about may include the use of herbs, vitamins, other dietary supplements, health tonics, “body cleansings“, or even special diets that among many other things are supposed to boost the immune system.

Previously, very few studies into these methods were undertaken. But, today researchers are now trying to learn more and to study these in the same careful ways that they learn about other forms of cancer prevention; as a result information on these is starting to filter through and appear online and in various medical and lifestyle magazines.

Lifestyle changes

While other things in your daily life that you may see or hear about that can help reduce your risk of cancer, may include quitting smoking, eating more fruits and vegetables, getting more exercise, cutting back on alcohol, red meats, and staying at a healthy weight. And, with all of these points now receiving much more attention, studies and information on all of these subjects are relatively easy to find.