Cancer questions from the National Cancer Centre
21 March is ‘Cancer Prevention Day’. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1/3 of cancers can be prevented, 1/3 can be cured with early diagnosis and treatment, and 1/3 of cancer patients can be cured with appropriate treatment. In the sense of symbolizing ‘3- 2-1’, this day was chosen as a birthday. Before Cancer Prevention Day, the National Cancer Center explained questions about cancer as follows.
– I know that the number of cancer patients is gradually increasing What is the probability of getting cancer?
Twenty years ago, when the National Cancer Center began publishing national cancer registry statistics, approximately 101,849 cancer patients occurred each year. Now, there are 250,000 cases, a 2.5 times increase.
If Koreans survive to a life expectancy of 83.5 years, the probability of getting cancer is 36.9%, and 2 in 5 men (80.5 years) (39.0%) and 1 in 3 women (86.5 years) (33.9%) ) which is thought to cause cancer. Since cancer is a representative disease of aging, given the rate of the aging population in Korea, the incidence of cancer is very likely to increase. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Korea, so it is important to prevent cancer and solve cancer problems.
– The most important thing to prevent cancer.
First you need to know what causes cancer. The causes of cancer are 30% smoking, 30% food, 20% infection, and 5% alcohol. It is important to avoid these main causes.
– Are e-cigarettes as harmful as cigarettes?
To avoid getting cancer, you must first stop smoking. Of course, second-hand smoke should also be avoided. There are many e-cigarettes these days, and there are two types of e-cigarettes. There are liquid e-cigarettes and cigarette-like e-cigarettes. Cigarette-type e-cigarettes have become popular recently, so I’ll explain them.
Conventional cigarettes light up and inhale smoke, while cigarette-like e-cigarettes heat the cigarette to 300 degrees using a battery and inhale the aerosol instead of lighting the same cigarette as conventional cigarettes.
It is debatable whether these e-cigarettes are harmful, but in conclusion, e-cigarettes also contain carcinogens. E-cigarettes are 65% as harmful as conventional cigarettes are 100% harmful. You might think this much is less harmful, but it’s like drinking poison and drinking water and thinking, ‘Isn’t this enough?’
Cigarette-like e-cigarettes are nothing more than a trick developed by tobacco companies to attract smokers who need to quit by offering less harmful cigarettes to smokers who need to quit because the anti- smoking effectively. I have to decide whether to smoke e-cigarettes or to stop smoking as I and my family want, falling to the endless temptations of the tobacco company.
– What foods should I eat to prevent cancer?
30% of cancers are due to food. Among the foods, the first thing to avoid is burnt food. Nurungji with burnt rice is fine, but burnt meat is a problem. Burning meat produces a strong carcinogen called benzopyrene in the burnt meat, which causes stomach cancer, so it is best avoided. Also, salty food causes stomach cancer, so you should eat less salt.
Red meat causes colon cancer, so don’t eat too much of it. Processed meats like ham and sausage are even worse. Eating lots of vegetables helps prevent cancer.
– To prevent cancer caused by infection.
Infections account for 20% of cancer cases. First of all, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus cause liver cancer, and hepatitis B virus can be prevented by vaccination. There is no vaccine for the Hepatitis C virus yet, but a cure has been developed.
Human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, is often spread through sexual intercourse. Women should be vaccinated against cervical cancer before intercourse.
Gastric cancer is caused by Helicobacter pylori. If Helicobacter pylori is detected by gastric endoscopy, it is possible to prevent gastric cancer by taking antibiotics for 1-2 weeks to eradicate it.
– Drinking small amounts is good for health.
In conclusion, even small amounts of alcohol are harmful. 25 million people drink alcohol in Korea. It’s a big mistake that they don’t even know that alcohol is a carcinogen. Alcohol causes 7 to 8 types of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, cancer of the pharynx, cancer of the larynx, cancer of the esophagus, cancer of the liver, cancer of the colon, and cancer of the stomach. Therefore, it is best not to drink alcohol whenever possible. There used to be a saying that a little alcohol is fine, but this is a completely outdated concept. Therefore, the World Health Organization also announced that the healthiest drink is not drinking at all. There is a serious misconception embedded in our society that some drinking is healthier than no drinking at all.
Previously, as a result of a comparative analysis of the risk of cardiovascular disease and the amount of alcohol taken, the incidence of cardiovascular disease in those who drank a small amount of alcohol was not lower than in those who did not drinking at all, so there was a concept of an appropriate amount of drinking that moderate drinking was beneficial to health. The findings of this study have been slightly exaggerated. Because among those who do not drink a single glass of alcohol, there are those who have already suffered from cancer or cirrhosis of the liver and ruined their health. Therefore, the claim that drinking alcohol in moderation is good for health is exaggerated.
But most importantly, when all causes of death from alcohol consumption were analyzed (although historical data only compares cardiovascular disease), we found that compared to non-drinkers, low drinkers had higher rates of other diseases and deaths , and that heavy alcohol drinkers have higher death rates The more you drink, the higher the death rate.
Therefore, the World Health Organization also declared that not drinking at all is the healthiest, and the concept of an appropriate amount of alcohol was abandoned. Therefore, Europe also declared that ‘it is better not to drink even a small amount of alcohol for health’ through a drinking guide.
Daeik Kwon Medical Specialist Reporter >
