The Health Enthusiast

Four years ago I had a close family relative diagnosed of a lung cancer. The diagnosis came when she was just scheduled for a general check up.My aunt lives in Hawaii so we were not able to know it right away. Knowing how serious this was, I started to ask myself questions on what really is cancer and how does it develop? Is there really a cure for this disease? These are just some of the questions that popped in my head and before I knew it , I was already doing a research. Here's what I was able to find out.


What is Cancer?

Cancer is the term used for a disease where abnormal cells develop. These abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues.These activity causes the formation of what we call tumors.There are many types of cancers.Most of them are named based from the organ where they were found.As an example, my aunt was diagnosed of a lung cancer because the tumors were found in her lungs. However, not all cancers develop tumor. One example is leukemia which involve the blood and blood-forming organs where they grow.

Origins of Cancer:

All cancers begin in our cells, the body's basic unit of life. To understand the disease ,it's helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancer cells. Our body is made up of many cells. These cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells. This is necessary so that cells that are already worn-out or dying are replaced.However, the genetic material (DNA) of a cell can become damaged or changed, producing mutations. These mutation affect normal growth and division .When this happens, cells do not die and new cells form when the body does not need them. These cells then forms what we call mass or tumor.However, just to clarify. Not all tumors are cancerous. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors can be removed through surgeries. Once removed , these tumors don't come back unlike the case of malignat tumors. Cells in these tumors invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body.

So what contributes cells with damaged DNA? I also asked my self this question and tried some more research. From what I was able to gather,people can inherit damaged DNA.However, the biggest contributing factor are caused by something we are exposed to in our environment. In my Aun's case, its pretty obvious. She already started smoking at the age of 14.

Cancer Distribution:

I then looked at the distribution of cancer and here's what's reported by World Health Organization.

The number of global cancer deaths is projected to increase 45% from 2007 to 2030 (from 7.9 million to 11.5 million deaths), influenced in part by an increasing and aging global population. The estimated rise takes into account expected slight declines in death rates for some cancers in high resource countries. New cases of cancer in the same period are estimated to jump from 11.3 million in 2007 to 15.5 million in 2030.

In most developed countries, cancer is the second largest cause of death after cardiovascular disease, and epidemiological evidence points to this trend emerging in the less developed world. This is particularly true in countries in "transition" or middle-income countries, such as in South America and Asia. Already more than half of all cancer cases occur in developing countries.

Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer - a trend that is expected to continue until 2030, unless efforts for global tobacco control are greatly intensified. Some cancers are more common in developed countries: prostate, breast and colon. Liver, stomach and cervical cancer are more common in developing countries.

Prevention:

According to world health , most of the factors for cancer can be prevented. These factors are indicated below:

•tobacco use - responsible for 1.8 million cancer deaths per year (60% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries);
•being overweight, obese or physically inactive - together responsible for 274 000 cancer deaths per year;
•harmful alcohol use - responsible for 351 000 cancer deaths per year;
•sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV) infection - responsible for 235 000 cancer deaths per year; and
•occupational carcinogens - responsible for at least 152 000 cancer deaths per year.