Is cancer a chronic disease?

Cancer is one of the more common diseases and is a relatively serious physical illness. Generally speaking, all internal organs of the body are likely to suffer from cancer. This is caused by long-term delays in physical illness or improper treatment. Cancer is also a chronic disease, which is generally caused by bacteria.

Cancer is extremely scary

Cancer is not far away from us, and we often hear that someone around us has cancer. Professor He said that the annual incidence of cancer is now 0.3%. As the average life expectancy increases, the incidence rate will continue to rise. In the next decade or so, China will see a peak in cancer incidence, but the number of deaths will decline.

Cancer is a chronic disease

What is the essence of cancer? In fact, cancer is just a chronic disease. In the 1970s and 1980s, we rarely heard of cancer. The most common disease at that time was inflammation, which was caused by bacteria and viruses infecting the human body. Bacteria could be killed with chemical drugs and antibiotics could control the disease. Later, people used the method of dealing with inflammation to deal with cancer, hoping to use chemical drugs to completely kill cancer cells. They only focused on the "three light" strategy, using surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy to "kill all" cancer cells.

In fact, cancer and inflammation are different. Inflammation is an "invasion of the human body by foreign enemies" (pathogenic bacteria invading the body), while cancer is an "internal strife" involving many factors, mainly involving the "disorder" of the body's own cell metabolism. It is often a "internal strife" with a slow development process, and it is caused by problems with the body's own cells. Moreover, the process from normal cells to cancer cells and then to cancer takes at least 5 years, but usually takes 10 to 20 years, or even longer. Therefore, the essence of cancer is just a chronic disease. It can be said that every elderly person has cancer cells in his or her body. In the autopsies of the elderly, about a quarter of them had malignant tumors in their bodies. As people slowly live out their years, some physiological abnormalities are inevitable in their bodies, just like problems that occur when a machine gets old.

How to Prevent Cancer

Leading a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of some cancers. Some of the measures include:

Eat healthy foods and balanced meals

There are many studies looking at which foods may increase or decrease cancer risk, but there is no single food or nutritional supplement that can prevent cancer. Overall, the research revealed a relationship between eating certain types of food and a reduced risk of cancer.

A healthy diet includes plenty of fruits and vegetables (at least 5 servings per day), plenty of grains, rice, potatoes, pasta, and other foods rich in carbohydrates, especially those containing crude fiber.

Eating enough fiber can reduce the incidence of colon cancer. Fiber-rich foods include whole-wheat pasta, bread, breakfast cereals, and rice. Beans, fruits, and vegetables are also good sources of fiber.