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Nutritional for cancer

Causes

Cancer is caused by the alteration of the DNA in cells. When the DNA inside a cell undergoes mutation, the cell stops functioning normally and becomes cancerous. The gene mutation may result in the rapid growth of cells, creating numerous cells with the same mutation. It may also lose tumor suppressor genes or mutation of these controls, which instruct them to stop growing; thus, they continue to grow and accumulate beyond the right number. Also, DNA repair genes that correct errors in the DNA of cells mutate, which means these errors go uncorrected, resulting in cancerous cells.

Risk Factors

Although doctors have information on cancer risk factors, most cancers occur in people that do not have any know risks. Risks factors for cancer include:

Age: The development of cancer cells can take decades, which explains why most people diagnosed with cancer are aged, 65, and older (Miller et al. 2016). However, this does not mean cancer is exclusive to old people-it can be diagnosed at any age.

Habits: Lifestyle choices such as drinking, smoking, extreme exposure to the sun, regular blistering and sunburns, obesity, and engaging in unprotected intercourse.

Family history: Only a small quota of cancers are passed on through a generation. However, if cancer is common in a family, it is possible that the can be inherited from a generation to the next.

Health Conditions: Some severe health conditions like ulcerative colitis can significantly raise the probability of developing some types of cancer.

The environment: An environment with harmful chemicals may increase the chances of developing cancer. Second-hand smoke inhaled from being around smokers or chemicals around the house or workplace such as asbestos raises the chances of developing cancer.

Prevention

There is no specific way of preventing cancer only behaviors that reduce the risk of developing the disease.

Avoiding smoking is one way to reduce the risk of cancer because the habit is associated with several types of cancer.

Staying away from the excessive sun to avoid the harmful ultraviolet rays reduced the risk of developing skin cancer.

Eating healthy by choosing a diet of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein goes a long way in reducing the probability of developing the disease.

Exercising for thirty minutes and more has been proven to lower the risk. This also helps with avoiding obesity, which significantly raises the risk of developing the disease.

Avoid alcohol or drink moderately. Any woman or a man aged above 65 years should restrict themselves to only one drink a day and two drinks maximum for men below the age of 65.

Go for cancer screening on a regular to detect the disease at a state where it is manageable. Get immunized because some viruses such as hepatitis B may cause cancer.

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of cancer vary based on the part of the body that is affected. Signs and symptoms include:

A lump under the skin

Hoarseness

Unintended loss or gain in weight

Persistent fever, night sweats, indigestion, joint and muscle pains, mysterious bruising or bleeding

Changes in the skin tone such as yellowing, persistent sores, redness or blackening of the skin, changes in moles previously on the body.

Trouble breathing

Treatment

There are many ways of treating various types of cancer. Thus the type of treatment will rely on the type of cancer. Surgery is one way and is conducted to remove cancer cells from the body. Radiation therapy uses high levels of radiation to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells.

Complications

The disease, as well as its treatment, may result in severe pain, fatigue, trouble breathing. Weight, loss, and Nausea. A person diagnosed with cancer may experience changes in the chemical composition of the body, increasing the risk of severe complications. Cancer can press on a body part upsetting nearby nerve endings, causing a significant amount of pain. The disease may also cause the brain and the nervous system to encounter problems.

Monitoring

Once an individual is diagnosed with cancer, several tests are carried out during and after treatment to check the effectiveness of therapies. There are also monitoring tests that indicate whether there is a chance of the disease reoccurring.

Diet modifications, why the modifications are appropriate, sample one day (3 meals) meal plan:

People diagnosed with cancer should first avoid poisonous food because the immune system is low during treatment. Cancer should avoid processed foods that are high in sugar and low on nutrients and fiber, processed meat, the habit of overcooking food, and dairy. Instead, the meal for a person with cancer should include vegetables, fruit, nuts, lettuce, Beans and legumes, fish, Garlic, and olive oil.

Planned Diets should include

Breakfast: Millet, a season fruit, blueberries, cinnamon-just a pitch, potato hash, Greek yogurt, asparagus, and almonds.

Lunch: Green salad, cup beans, kale salad, kidney

Snack: Fruit and nut, a colorful assortment of veggies and curry hummus.

Dinner: Cornbread, Moroccan chicken, ratatouille, and Salmon, burgers from animals that are grass-fed, and grilled with tobacco.

References

Miller, K. D., Siegel, R. L., Lin, C. C., Mariotto, A. B., Kramer, J. L., Rowland, J. H., … & Jemal, A. (2016). Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2016. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 66(4), 271-289.