How lifestyle choices are key to reducing cancer risk
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Exercise and physical activity are good for you. Alcohol is bad for you.
Both these statements are scientifically ratified, universal truths. However, for those who continue to make bad lifestyle choices, the alcohol-fuelled good times just keep on rolling. Before we get into how exactly alcohol can be a cause for cancer, here’s some good news: according to the 14th edition of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Progress Report, published earlier this month, overall deaths from cancer have dropped.
That’s probably the only celebratory bit as the study also found a worrying trend where the number of adults under the age of 50 developing cancers, including breast and gastrointestinal cancers, has increased. The researchers found that alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise contributed to this higher incidence of cancer among middle-aged adults. Other factors that contribute to this trend are obesity, smoking and pollution.
All of this is bad news for Indians. While obesity is on the rise, so is alcohol consumption in the country. The work hours in India are already long and with multiple business leaders calling for unsustainably longer hours, millions of job-seekers are walking into sedentary lives every year while those holding a job aren’t left with much time to fix their already sedentary lifestyles.
On global pollution indices, our cities are among the most polluted in the world all year round. But things get especially bad around winter, with Diwali and crop burning fuelling poisonous air. But while we may not have much direct control over pollution or long work hours, two factors that we can immediately address, to reduce our cancer risk,
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