Cancer has been a plague on humanity for a long time and now films about it attempt to highlight the risk every person on the planet faces from this disease; huge efforts have been put into research into this terrible disease and now many more people survive than a few years ago. I wonder if you can imagine a time when this disease is no longer a problem or when a visit to the doctor for some routine tests does not bring the fear that it does at the moment? The problem is we don't fully understand the causes of cancer although there are many things in our life that can trigger it.
There are theories that we all have it and it just takes something to start it off, but what is cancer? The word cancer is often used by some to explain something that spreads out of control; this is what happens with a population of cells that increase in size by replication, similar to the amoeba; although cancer is able to spread to neighboring cells and other parts of the body.
The difference between a cancerous tumor an a benign one is that malignant tumors continue to grow whereas benign ones limit their growth an many of us live comfortably with them during out lives without even knowing. The disease may affect people of all ages and there is an increased risk of suffering from the more common cancers as you get older; thirteen percent of people die from one of it's many strains every year around the world. Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells; these abnormalities may be caused by other poisons within the body from smoking, radiation, chemicals or other infectious agents.
Although genetic abnormalities may be caused by it they may also be randomly acquired through problems in the body's DNA replication; a genetic trait may be inherited and thus present in all cells from birth. Complex relationships between carcinogens and a person's genetic makeup may explain why only some develop it after exposure to a known carcinogen.
Long term research has given a better picture of what cancer is and the study of cancer is one of the top ten diseases being researched throughout the world. Much of the world's research into diseases is to try and find the reason why some people do not contract certain diseases whilst others do. We all want to know more about the causes of cancer what we can do to help prevent this illness from striking.
There is a saying ‘You Are What You Eat' and this is now being looked at more closely as food may have a direct effect on the incidence of the disease in certain groups. Foods that could be a problem are Salt, sugar, saturated fat and cholesterol. Recent studies have shown that calcium received from dairy products can be harmful to men and could encourage the onset of prostate cancer.
Cancer can affect any part of the body from the bones, blood, skin or organs. nowhere is safe from it. Sometimes the disease is only picked up through routine screening. Usually the cancer is at an early stage and a person may have a better chance of being cured. the number of different types of cancer that can be treated has increased dramatically in recent years with so much intensive research being carried out. Advancements in medical techniques mean that cancer in many cases can be treated and often completely cured; it is only a matter of time before a complete cure is discovered.