Cancer Losing It's Battle

"Lost his battle to Cancer."

Hey folks,

We hear all the time, those Famous and not so much, "We sorry to report, he / she lost their battle to Cancer. So and so died this day at so and so O'clock, after a long battle with this kind of Cancer."

Well we seem to have some good news. According to HealthDay - As Science Unlocks Secrets, Cancer Rates Fall by Dennis Thompson – Fri Sep 24, 11:48 pm ET Cancer may finally be losing the battle. Lets look at this in today's Health and Science Segment.

(HealthDay News) -- Cancer is one of the most feared diseases on the planet, and the second leading cause of death in the United States.

But medical science is slowly conquering cancer, according to an assessment of cancer trends produced by the U.S. National Cancer Institute in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

Death rates and diagnosis rates from all cancers combined are declining significantly, both for men and women overall, and for most racial and ethnic populations within the United States, the report found.

New diagnoses for all types of cancer combined decreased an average of almost 1 percent a year from 1999 to 2006, and deaths attributed to cancer decreased 1.6 percent a year from 2001 to 2006, according to the report, an annual evaluation released each December.

Now I understand that 1 percent in minuscule. But it is FAR better than the Cancer Rate INCREASING. This really IS good news.

Doctors predict that the rates will keep falling because research has begun unlocking the secrets of how different cancers begin and develop.

"We're beginning to understand that each cancer has an individual pathway to development," said Dr. Alan G. Thorson, president of the American Cancer Society, a clinical professor of surgery and director of colon and rectal surgery at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. "We know now how to look at cancer, find its source and go for that source, which makes all the difference in the world."

The decrease in cancer incidence and deaths has been driven mainly by advances in detecting and treating the major types of cancer in men and women, according to the report.

Incidence and death rates are declining for lung, prostate and colorectal cancer in men, and for breast and colorectal cancer in women, the report said. Also, increases in the other major cancer for women, lung cancer, have tapered off, with rates remaining stable since 2003.

The change in Lifestyles also have to play a part in this. More and more people are quiting Smoking, eating healthier, exercising more. Drugs and Treatment are advancing, but so are we.

There's no single explanation for the decrease in these major cancers, doctors said. Rather, the decreases are chalked up to effective detection and treatment tools designed for each form of cancer.

For example, public tobacco policy has been crucial in reducing lung cancer rates in men and leveling them out for women, said Dr. Brenda Edwards, associate director of the Surveillance Research Program at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

"The biggest risk factor for lung cancer is smoking," Edwards said. "We've begun to see the impact of efforts to limit tobacco use." She noted that the reduction in smoking rates has accompanied laws designed to prohibit public smoking.

Colorectal cancer has decreased because of increased efforts to screen for the cancer using colonoscopy and other methods, Thorson said. Colonoscopy has made colorectal cancer completely preventable, he explained, because doctors can remove precancerous polyps from the colon during the procedure.

Also people eating right. Things that will NOT clog up the Colon. More and more people are learning ways to cleanse the Liver also. Which is another place in the body that stores bad stuff that can make you sick in the long run.

A number of factors account for the decrease in breast cancer rates. Mammograms are providing earlier detection of breast cancers, and earlier detection most often results in more successful treatment, Thorson said.

On top of that, fewer women are using hormone replacement medications after menopause, and "the sudden shift away from hormone replacement therapies in women affected incidence rates," Edwards said.

Prostate cancer rates have fallen as the result of improved detection through the use of tests that measure the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in a man's blood, which can indicate cancer likelihood, and improved treatment procedures, Edwards said.

Both Edwards and Thorson believe the key to keeping cancer in decline involves molecular and genetic research that is unlocking the way cancer cells function.

"We're beginning to understand what's going wrong inside of the cells to make them behave in a bad manner," Thorson said. This type of research will result in targeted therapies that will attack cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone, he said.

Increased understanding of the human genome also will help in cancer prevention, Thorson said. Using knowledge of the genetics of cancer, doctors might soon be able to identify people who are at high risk for certain types of cancer and provide them with the tools to prevent its occurrence.

Other breakthroughs along the way also should help. For example, doctors are using vaccines to prevent the occurrence of cervical cancer in women and are researching ways other vaccines might stop other forms of cancer.

But Thorson said the biggest breakthroughs in cancer prevention could be ones that people undertake in their everyday lives.

If people begin eating right, exercising and avoiding bad habits such as smoking, then cancer rates will continue to fall, he explained.

Like I said. More on this is a second.

"We have the ability to significantly reduce cancer available right now," Thorson said. "Those are things we can do to prevent cancer, which is infinitely better than creating new ways to treat cancer once it's there."

"People forget how much power we do have right now through simple lifestyle changes," he added.

The liver is one of the most important Organs in the body when it comes to Detoxifying or getting rid of foreign substances or Toxins. Like the old saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. However, in some cases, garbage in, garbage STAYS in. The liver plays a key role in most Metabolic processes, especially Detoxification. The liver gets rid of harmful substances by a complex series of Chemical reactions. The role of these various Enzyme activities in the Liver is to convert fat soluble Toxins into water soluble substances that can be excreted in the urine or the bile depending on the particular characteristics of the end product.

You get many of these Toxic Chemicals in the fat you eat. This makes them difficult for the body to excrete. They get mixed up with the fatty acids and Proteins, some of which you body needs. So since your body needs them, it stores them, just like the good stuff. Toxins may be stored for years, being released slowly through time. Enough release at once or in combination, you can get sick. So it stands to reason, a Healthy Liver, can reduce the threat of Cancer and other Sicknesses and Diseases.

So as it turns out, between Healthier Lifestyles and GOOD Science, we are actually making advancements in the battle against Cancer. May the fight continue until we can finally say, "We have GREAT News, Cancer has lost it's battle to us. It died on so and so day."
Peter

Sources:
HealthDay - As Science Unlocks Secrets, Cancer Rates Fall