In recent years, the number of people suffering from cancer has increased. How does cancer occur? What are the risk factors?

In January 2021, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released global cancer-related data, counting the incidence and mortality rates of 36 types of cancer in 185 countries around the world, and also made predictions on future cancer development trends.

Data shows that in 2020, there were 19.29 million new cancer cases worldwide, 4.57 million of which were in China, accounting for 23.7% of the world's total; there were 9.96 million cancer deaths, 3 million of which were in China, accounting for 30% of the world's total. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world!

In recent years, if you have paid attention to some phenomena and cases around you, you will find that the number of people suffering from cancer is increasing. Why is this?

How cancer occurs Cancer is a multi-stage process of transformation from normal cells to tumor cells, usually from precancerous lesions to malignant tumors. The occurrence of tumors is usually the result of the interaction of a person's genetics plus physical, chemical, and biological factors.

Physical factors such as ultraviolet rays and ionizing radiation. Ultraviolet rays can cause skin cancer, and ionizing radiation can cause leukemia, etc.

Chemical factors such as asbestos and tobacco smoke components (mainly cause lung cancer), aflatoxin (mainly causes liver cancer), arsenic (cause skin cancer and lung cancer, etc.).

Biological factors mainly include bacteria, viruses and protozoa, such as Helicobacter pylori (HP, causing gastric cancer), hepatitis B virus (HBV, causing liver cancer), hepatitis C virus (HCV, causing liver cancer), human papillomavirus (HPV, causing cervical cancer and penile cancer), and Clonorchis sinensis (causing bile duct cancer).

The incidence of cancer increases dramatically with age, which may be related to the increasing age of certain cancers. With age, various factors that cause cancer continue to accumulate, while the effectiveness of the repair mechanism of normal tissue cells continues to decline, and the probability of cell replication errors continues to increase, leading to an increase in the incidence of cancer.

Risk Factors for Cancer Smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and air pollution are risk factors for cancer (including many noncommunicable diseases).

Smoking Around the 1940s, medical scientists noticed a phenomenon that most people with lung cancer had a long history of smoking, so scientists speculated that smoking was related to the occurrence of lung cancer. Then epidemiologists, medical scientists, etc. conducted a long-term cohort study and concluded in the 1970s that smoking causes lung cancer. The possibility of smokers getting lung cancer is 9 times that of non-smokers, and the possibility increases with the amount of smoking per day and the length of smoking.

In 2020, the number of lung cancer diagnoses worldwide was 2.2 million, with 1.8 million deaths; the number of lung cancer diagnoses in my country was 820,000, with 710,000 deaths. The number of lung cancer diagnoses worldwide is second only to breast cancer, and lung cancer is the most common cancer in my country. Lung cancer is the cancer with the highest number of deaths both globally and in my country.

Judging from the cases around us, most lung cancer patients have a long history of smoking.

In the past, people generally believed that moderate drinking was good for health. There was also a saying among the people: "Drinking in the morning hurts the mind, drinking at noon hurts the stomach, and not drinking at night hurts the heart." The latest research shows that drinking is harmful to the body, regardless of the amount of alcohol consumed, and the harmful effects of alcohol accumulate.

Drinking alcohol can cause many types of cancer. For example, alcohol burns the esophagus, causing esophageal cancer, damages the gastric mucosa, causing gastric cancer, and toxic side effects on the liver, causing liver cancer. Globally and in my country, liver cancer, gastric cancer, and esophageal cancer are among the top ten or even top five cancers in terms of morbidity and mortality.

Unhealthy diet The health of the human body is most closely related to diet. An unhealthy diet can cause a variety of diseases and endanger human health. For example, picky eating leads to an unreasonable diet structure, long-term consumption of junk food, insufficient intake of vegetables and fruits, or insufficient intake of meat, etc.

Some people like to eat meat but do not consume enough vegetables and fruits. Relevant studies have shown that excessive fat intake can cause breast cancer and prostate cancer. In Europe and the United States, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer, which is related to their dietary structure of liking to eat meat. Some people like to eat vegetarian food but do not consume enough meat, which can cause colorectal cancer.

The last time I went to the hospital to visit a friend, he suffered from liver cancer due to long-term heavy drinking. The person in the next bed was a young man, only 28 years old. Due to his lifestyle and long-term ordering of takeout, he was diagnosed with advanced rectal cancer at a young age.

Air pollution In the 18th century, the world entered the industrial age. The massive use of coal and oil led to serious air pollution. The development of urbanization and the emergence of large and super cities have further aggravated air pollution. Air pollution can directly cause lung cancer in the human body. In addition, some pollutants floating in the air will settle with rainfall, which may enter the groundwater and cause water pollution, and may settle on the surface of vegetables and fruits and cause food pollution. In short, the problems caused by air pollution are very serious.

Now, the authorities are making great efforts to control air pollution and manage the environment. I believe the situation will improve a lot in the future.

However, in addition to air pollution, food safety is also a very serious problem. For example, pesticide residues, excessive use of plant hormones and other issues. I once talked to an old lady while buying vegetables at the vegetable market. I asked her why the vegetables grew so well. She said that the hormones and drugs used were sold to people in big cities. She only ate the vegetables she grew herself without spraying them with pesticides. I asked her, do you have children in big cities? She did not respond.

Lack of physical activity Nowadays, people’s pace of life is accelerating and the pressure of life is high. It has become a luxury to maintain daily exercise. However, life lies in exercise. Lack of exercise can lead to many physical problems, such as cancer, obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and so on.

I discussed this with some friends. I said that if you overdraw your body to make money when you are young, and then you have no body when you are old, or if you want to use money to buy health, what is the point? So I think that money is second, and health is always the first.

To sum up, in recent years, there are indeed more and more people suffering from cancer around us. This is related to many factors. First, my country is a populous country with a large population base, so the number of people suffering from cancer is naturally more. Second, my country is the country with the largest tobacco consumption in the world. Third, it is due to the cumulative effect of environmental damage caused by economic development in previous years. Fourth, people’s lifestyles have changed. In addition to these four points, there are other factors that lead to an increase in the incidence of cancer.

I believe that human health is more important than anything else, so in order to actively prevent cancer, you should not smoke (scientific research shows that it is never too late to quit smoking. As long as you quit smoking immediately, your lung function will gradually improve and the risk of lung cancer will immediately decrease), quit drinking (just like quitting smoking, it is never too late to quit drinking), have a reasonable diet (not picky or partial, and a combination of meat and vegetables), maintain proper exercise (do aerobic exercise every day, such as running, etc.), and stay in a good mood (studies have shown that a depressed mentality will double the risk of cancer).

In addition to the above, you should also have regular physical examinations. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment of tumors are conducive to recovery. If you feel unwell, please go to the hospital for treatment. You can't bear it.