S5E45: Why Does Cancer Exist? Empower Yourself With Understanding
Did you or someone you love ever ask: What exactly is cancer? Why did I get cancer? Did I do something to cause it or was it just bad luck? In this episode, we learn the interplay between biology, lifestyle and environment, and what you can do to reduce your risk for cancer.
Cancer. The BIG C. A word that is dreaded to hear and frightens us to our core. But we can learn about it and empower ourselves to decrease our risk.
“The prevention of cancer requires us to look not just at genetic predisposition but at how our lifestyle choices and environmental exposures interact with our biology to affect cancer risk.”
– Dr. Harold Varmus Nobel laureate and former director of the National Institutes of Health
We talk about what cancer is, the role of biology, and some of the lifestyle and environmental exposures that increase our risk. Finally, we empower you with steps you can take for prevention.
03:41 – Recipe of the Week: Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
05:03 – Perspective on the Glass Half Empty/Full…How Can You Refill the Glass?
08:03 – Deep Dive Into Cancer: Why Did I Get Cancer?
09:32 – What Exactly is Cancer?
12:41 – What Causes Cancer to Develop?
13:48 – Lifestyle Choices that Contribute to Cancer
18:04 – Environmental Factors that Contribute to Cancer
20:01 – What You Can Do To Reduce Cancer Risk
30:35 – Jimmy Buffett: Grief Is Like a Wake Behind a Boat
31:09 – Outro
What Is Cancer?
Have you ever had a “master” for photocopying that had also been copied, having smudges or black spots on it that got passed along to the new copy? Then if you made a copy of the new copy, it could be even worse. That is kind of what is happening when defective cells divide.
Imagine your body is made of tiny building blocks called cells. Sometimes, one of these cells gets a little messed up, like a typo in a message. This messed-up cell is called a mutated cell.
Cells can be damaged by many things – we talk about this in our podcast. The real miracle is our body has ways to detect damage, and ether puts a cell to sleep to repair itself, or causes it to die if the damage is too extensive. (This is called apoptosis.) But very rarely a mutated cell can escape this process.
This mutated cell starts to make copies of itself, but it doesn’t make them correctly. It’s like a copy machine that’s broken and makes blurry copies. Instead of one messed-up cell, you now have many.
These messed up cells keep copying themselves, and change even more to grow faster and faster. They can form a lump called a tumor.
Sometimes these bad cells can even break away from the lump and travel to other parts of the body. This is called metastasis. This is when the cancer becomes very dangerous because it interferes with the function of the organs where it spread to.
How Does Cancer Grow?
How a Tumor Develops
A single mutated cell begins to make copies of itself.
Mutated cells keep copying themselves, and change even more through selection to grow faster and faster. They can form a lump called a tumor.
Rapidly-growing tumor cells eventually develop malignancy – the ability to detach and spread to other parts of the body.
An Example of How Cancer Grows – a Colon Carcinoma
A single altered cell develops into a population of cells that divide quickly. Colonoscopies look for polyps, and some polyps are these early non-cancer growths called adenomas. As they increase in size, they then develop to become a malignant carcinoma.
The cancer cells invade the underlying connective tissue and penetrate blood and lymphatic vessels. Once in blood and lymph, they can spread throughout the body.
What are the Lifestyle and Environmental Factors That Can Cause Cancer?
We spend the most time in this podcast talking about this topic, so be sure to listen. Learn about what factors are known to cause specific cancers, from tobacco to Epstein-Barr Virus. We have discussed a few of these in other podcasts, so check them out, such as chronic inflammation (See Related Episodes below.)
How Can I Reduce My Risk for Cancer?
About 4 in 10 cancer cases can be prevented through healthy living and protective public policies. Key steps include:
Quitting smoking
Maintaining a healthy weight
Eating a balanced diet
Limiting alcohol intake
Protecting yourself from the sun
Staying physically active
Avoiding exposure to harmful chemicals
And being vaccinated against cancer-causing viruses (such as HPV)
Some of these risk factors you can change now. In the podcast we discuss more about steps you can take and why these are important.
What Are Some of the Most Common Cancers?
The estimated numbers of new invasive cancer cases in the United States in 2024 by gender and cancer type. In total, there will be approximately 2,001,140 new cancer cases, the equivalent of about 5480 diagnoses each day.
Cancer Type
Estimated New Cases Per Year (percent)
Estimated DeathsPer Year (percent)
Breast (Female / Male)
F: 310,720 (19%) / M: 2,790 (17%)
42,250 (9.7%)
Prostate
299,010 (18%)
35,250 (8.0%)
Lung (Including Bronchus)
234,580 (14.4 %)
125,070 (28.7%)
Colon and Rectal (Combined)
152,810 (9.3 %)
53,010 (12.1 %)
Melanoma
100,640 (6.1 %)
8,290 (1.9 %)
Bladder
83,190 (5.1 %)
16,840 (3.9 %)
Kidney (Renal Cell and Renal Pelvis)
81,610 (5.0 %)
14,390 (3.3 %)
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
80,620 (4.9 %)
20,140 (4.6 %)
Endometrial
67,880 (4.1 %)
13,250 (3.0 %)
Pancreatic
66,440 (4.0 %)
51,750 (11.9 %)
Leukemia (All Types)
62,770 (3.8 %)
23,670 (5.4 %)
Thyroid
44,020 (2.7 %)
2,170 (0.4 %)
Liver and Intrahepatic Bile Duct
41,630 (2.5 %)
29,840 (6.8 %)
Subtotal
1,628,710
435,920
All Types
2,001,140
611,720
The estimated numbers of new invasive cancer cases in the United States in 2024
Johnson, Leland R.; Parrish, Charles E. (2007). Triumph at the Falls: The Louisville and Portland Canal. Louisville: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. p. 42. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021.
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