Forest, © Ioana Grecu, Dreamstime.com
When discussing the causes of cancer remember that not one factor is the answer. This is demonstrated when of two people exposed to the same risks one will develop some kind of cancer whereas the other will not.
Here is a brief overview of common risk factors:
Age: the risk of many cancers can be age related because of the accumulated effect of poor lifestyle habits. The tendency is for most cancers to appear after age 45, however when children or young adults develop cancer is usually a result of exposure to environmental toxins or carcinogens.
Geography: many cancers are regional, for example, industrialized countries have higher rates of certain cancers than underdeveloped countries. Also, people may increase their risk of cancer when they move from a region with low incidence rate to one with high incidence rate.
Environment: is very important when assessing risk factors, especially when there are at least 10,000 new chemicals released every year with only a fraction of them tested for their effects on living beings. The National Cancer Institute mentions that two thirds of cancer cases are linked to environmental causes.
- Sunlight radiation, including sun exposure and tanning salons; air pollution including fumes; work related carcinogens such as radon, asbestos, benzene, benzidine, cadmium, nickel, or vinyl chloride; home related carcinogens such as radon, paints, pesticides, used engine oil, paint, solvents, and other chemicals; water quality; ionizing radiation, which comes from rays that enter the Earth's atmosphere from outer space; radioactive fallout, that is airborne radioactive particles that fall to the ground during and after an atomic bombing, nuclear weapons test, or nuclear plant accident; repeated exposure to x-rays and radiation therapy due to medical procedures.
Estrogen: high levels of estrogen seem to be a cause of specific cancers like breast and endometrial. Sources of extra estrogen include birth control pills, fertility drugs, hormone-replacement-therapy, environmental estrogens, hormone-fed produce, and exposure to DES. DES (diethylstilbestrol) was a drug that was administered to pregnant women from 1940-1970 to stop miscarriage. These women as well as their daughters are at risk for developing certain cancers such as breast and cervical.
I would also like to include here personal care products preserved with parabens; research has shown that parabens mimic estrogen and may affect or increase breast cancer cells.
Lifestyle: inactivity and sedentary life tend to promote higher risk for cancer whereas moderate exercise such as walking for 30 minutes daily has shown great benefits. Habits that have health risks such as smoking, excessive drinking and using of drugs, and diet, including fats, sugar, fast and processed foods, as well as GM foods and crops, may also be risk factors. In addition, stress as well as emotional and mental outlook have a burden on body's physiology and cancer risk.
Oxidative stress: is the cumulative effect on health of environmental toxins, stress, excessive medication, inadequate nutrition, and overall lifestyle habits. Oxidation is the cause for many degenerative diseases including cancer.
Family history: Most cancers develop because of changes in the genes and these changes can be a result of any of the above mentioned risk factors. Predispositions thus inherited from your family may increase the risk for certain cancers however, what your genes are exposed to has more impact on your cancer risk than simply having the predisposition.
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