Thaindian News

London, April 21 (IANS) Many of us think that developing cancer is purely down to genes, fate or bad luck. But, the risk of cancer actually depends on a combination of our genes, our environment and our lifestyles - many of which we can control.
Experts believe that cancer could be prevented by making simple lifestyle changes such as keeping active, not smoking and protecting your skin against the sun, reports express.co.uk.

Give up smoking: Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world. So give up and cut your risk drastically.

Go easy on the booze. Alcohol can cause seven types of cancer including breast, bowel, liver and mouth cancers. The more you cut down on your drinking, the more you reduce your cancer risk.

Keep active: Breast and bowel cancers are less common in people who get 30 minutes of moderate activity a day, five days a week. This doesn’t necessarily mean sweating it out in the gym. It includes anything that leaves you warm and slightly out of breath, such as brisk walking, gardening, dancing or even doing housework.

Eat a healthy balanced diet. There’s a lot of confusion about how foods and so-called ’superfoods’ affect the risk of cancer. But for reducing your risk, research shows that the best diet is simply a balanced one - high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in red and processed meat, saturated fat and salt.

Avoid sunbeds. They don’t have any health benefits and they’re not a safe alternative to tanning in the sun. Their UV rays can also age the skin before its time and cause malignant melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.

Practice safe sex. Some sexually transmitted viruses, like hepatitis B, hepatitis C can cause cancer. You may not know if you or someone else has an infection, so it’s best to use protection.