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Cancer can be prevented: if you try and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you can greatly reduce your chances of ever suffering from the disease.

A lot of factors can affect your risk for cancer – how you eat, where you live, where you work, what you eat and drink. Let us talk about some risk factors and what can be done in order to minimize the risk. The following factors usually go a long way in increasing (or decreasing) your risk of acquiring cancer:

• Tobacco (Cigarette smoking)
• Sun and ultraviolet rays
• Carcinogens
• Food and fitness

Tobacco
Cigarette smoking is related to tobacco. Cigarette smoking can be a risk factor in two ways – direct smoking and second hand smoking.

• Direct Smoking
  Smoking causes about 87% of lung cancer deaths. Also, cigarette smoking is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the stomach, liver, pancreas, bladder, kidney and also some kinds of leukemia. Groups that promote non-smoking as a part of their religion have lower rates of lung cancer.
  
  

• Secondhand smoking
  Secondhand smoking is smoke that is exhaled by a smoker or comes from burning tobacco. Exposure of smoke to nonsmokers is called passive smoking. Due to this passive smoking, nonsmokers absorb nicotine and other compounds. Secondhand tobacco smoke has over 4,000 chemical compounds out of which 60 are known causes of cancer.

Sun and Ultra-violet Rays
There are two types of ultraviolet rays: UVA and UVB. It is believed that both of these rays are a cause of skin cancer. UVA contributes to skin cancer formation and UVB is known to damage DNA cells and this damage develops skin cancer.

Other sources of ultra-violet light such as tanning booths and sunlamps may also increase risk of developing skin cancer.

Carcinogens
Carcinogens are substances that cause changes that lead to cancer. Some known carcinogens are:

• Asbestos - Mesothelioma Lung Cancer Lawsuits
• Benzene
• Erionite
• Hepatitis B virus
• Neutrons
• Nickel compounds
• Solar radiation
• Oral contraceptives, sequential
• Arsenic
• Food and Fitness

Enough about cancer causing agents - it's about time we talked about elements which can help you in avoiding the disease! There are several steps you can take in order to reduce risk of cancer. These include being physically fit and taking proper nutrition.

Nutrition & Physical Fitness

• Prefer whole grain foods over processed ones
• Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day
• Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages
• Limit fried foods
• Limit consumption of refined carbohydrates
• Eat small portions of high calorie foods
• Choose white meat over red meat
• Maintain a health weight – obesity can lead to cancer