Hypersexual disorder!Am I sexually addicted?Take a quize....

What is sex addiction?

Relationship counselling service Relate describes sex addiction as any sexual activity that feels "out of control". This could be sex with a partner, but it can also mean activities such as pornography, masturbation, visiting prostitutes or using chat lines.
For most people, these habits don't cause them any problems. However, sex addicts are unable to control these urges and actions, despite the problems it may cause their relationships, finances and professional lives.
The Recovery Network says sex addiction "involves frequent self-destructive or high risk activity that is not emotionally fulfilling, that one is ashamed of and that one is unable to stop, despite it causing repeated problems".

What causes sex addiction?

The causes of love and sex addictions are often rooted in childhood or adolescence. Early trauma, neglect or depression are potential reasons. One US study revealed that 80% of participants with a sex addiction suffered emotional trauma or sexual abuse during their childhood.

Sex addicts often describe their parents as rigid, distant and uncaring. These families, including the addicts themselves, are more likely to be substance abusers. One study found that 80 percent of recovering sex addicts report some type of addiction in their families of origin. 

Symptoms of sexual addiction

While there is no official diagnosis for sex addiction, clinicians and researchers have attempted to define the disorder using criteria based on chemical dependency literature. They include:

• Frequently engaging in more sex and with more partners than intended.
• Being preoccupied with or persistently craving sex; wanting to cut down and unsuccessfully attempting to limit sexual activity.
• Thinking of sex to the detriment of other activities or continually engaging in excessive sexual practices despite a desire to stop.
• Spending considerable time in activities related to sex, such as cruising for partners or spending hours online visiting pornographic Web sites.
• Neglecting obligations such as work, school or family in pursuit of sex.
• Continually engaging in the sexual behavior despite negative consequences, such as broken relationships or potential health risks.
• Escalating scope or frequency of sexual activity to achieve the desired effect, such as more frequent visits to prostitutes or more sex partners.
• Feeling irritable when unable to engage in the desired behavior.

You may have a sex addiction problem if you identify with three or more of the above criteria. More generally, sex addicts tend to organize their world around sex in the same way that cocaine addicts organize theirs around cocaine. Their goal in interacting with people and in social situations is obtaining sexual pleasure.

In 2010, the American Psychiatric Association issued its preliminary criteria for “Hypersexual Disorder,” which may be a possible alternative definition or diagnostic label for sex addiction.

Symptoms for hypersexual disorder

In 2010, the American Psychiatric Association released draft, preliminary criteria that may define “sex addiction,” which they are formally called Hypersexual Disorder. Hypersexual disorder can only be diagnosed in adults 18 years or older, according to the draft criteria.
The symptoms of Hypersexual Disorder are:

• Over a period of at least six months, a person experiences recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges, and sexual behavior in association with four or more of the following five criteria:
1. Excessive time is consumed by sexual fantasies and urges, and by planning for and engaging in sexual behavior.
2. Repetitively engaging in these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior in response to dysphoric mood states (e.g., anxiety, depression, boredom, irritability).
3. Repetitively engaging in sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior in response to stressful life events.
4. Repetitive but unsuccessful efforts to control or significantly reduce these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior.
5. Repetitively engaging in sexual behavior while disregarding the risk for physical or emotional harm to self or others.
• The person experiences clinically significant personal distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning associated with the frequency and intensity of these sexual fantasies, urges, and behavior.

 Am I sexually addicted?Take a quize....

Can you become addicted to sex?

It is possible for some people to become addicted to sex. This addiction is similar to substance abuse, as an addiction is caused by the powerful chemical substances that are released during sex.

Dopamine is an excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter synthesized in many areas of the brain. It is a precursor for noradrenaline and adrenaline.
Dopamine also acts as a hormone when it is released from the hypothalamus, inhibiting prolactin production from the pituitary gland.

In the CNS dopamine is involved in the regulation of pleasure and reward, memory, motor control, sleep, mood, attention and learning.
Dopamine is released by rewarding experiences such as food, sex and (some) drugs. Lowered dopamine has been associated with loss of satisfaction, social withdrawal, apathy, reduced motivation and attention.

Other chemical substances that that has the effects on  mood disorders, hormones, sleep,pain perception, appetite, and cognitive function are Serotonin,GABA,Glutamate,Noradrenaline and Adrenaline.

Low or high levels of neurotransmitters are observed in various mental health disorders.

  

Dopamine causes the positive reinforcement(it makes you feel good--It causes you to feel pleasure.

Anything that cause an increase in dopamine will likely results in intense pleasure and the desire to repeat the experience.

It is that type of reward effect, that pleasure effect that we can attribute to drugs so that addiction partly can be explained by increasing in dopamine in the mesolimbic system and also some behaviours that are observed in psychosis.

Since drugs that can increase dopamine function will potentially be drugs of abuse but also drugs that will cause reinforcement and at high doses psychosis.

The same effect will be seen in sex that regular intense stimulation during sexual intercourse cause the rise of dopamine in the brain,which will eventual cause intense pleasure and the desire to repeat the experience.You can make someone sexual addicted to you!!

Being addicted to something means that not having it causes withdrawal symptoms, or a "come down". Because this can be unpleasant, it's easier to carry on having or doing what you crave, and so the cycle continues. Often, an addiction gets out of control because you need more and more to satisfy a craving and achieve the "high" you feel.
If you think you may have a sexual addiction, there is plenty of support available to you.

 references:

1. Caplan pharmacology 
2.  http://psychcentral.com
3.  http://www.nhs.uk
4.   http://www.emed.com.au/384 

"Begining of life in earth" the role of cyanobacteria in our existance...what will hapen after 100 million years in future?how will new york looklike?

what will happen after 100 million years in future?

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Come Closer to Eliminating Heart Disease

A world without heart disease seems impossible. But researchers at Johns Hopkins just got one step closer.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University may be one step closer to eradicating debilitating heart diseases in humans, particularly those caused by excessive buildup of cholesterol.

A new study published in the journal Circulation shows that a synthesized drug reduces, and may even eradicate, the effects of high-fat and high-cholesterol diets. And though the drug is prosperous for the heart and brain most specifically, the entire body may benefit from this development.

“It’s the entire cardiovascular system that’s affected,” Ekaterina Pesheva, a representative for Johns Hopkins, told The Daily Beast. “The reason we’re worried about the heart and the brain is because those are the centers that end up being the most debilitating to human life when affected by fatty buildups.”
The study shows that the new drug under examination, known now as D-PDMP, changes the way fat metabolism works, and eliminates the risk of heart attack and heart disease. The drug halts the development of atherosclerosis, a word referring to the hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is based on a buildup of fat and cholesterol in blood vessels, and happens to be the main cause of heart attacks in humans. Most notably, atherosclerosis is the No. 1 cause of death in humans (perhaps a little-known fact in a world rampant with famine, war, and crime).
Atherosclerotic heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, which develops when fat builds inside the blood vessels over time, rendering them stiff, narrowed, and hardened. This, in turn, reduces blood flow to the heart and brain.
Other kinds of heart disease include structural heart disease—people born with malformations of their heart, which is rare, and heart failure (mostly a result of poorly functioning heart muscle, which can be due to a number of causes, including atherosclerosis. It can also be caused by other conditions such as viral infections of the heart) will also benefit from this development.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these new developments is that the compound used to control the atherosclerosis is a widely available, man-made compound.

Dr. Subroto Chatterjee, Ph.D, a cardio-metabolic expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine, spearheaded the research and development of this project. “Atherosclerotic, in most colloquial terms, means clogged vessels, or vessels thickened by buildup of fat inside the vessel,” Chatterjee told The Daily Beast. “And this research was quite challenging,” he said, “but we feel like we got quite lucky with the development here.”
Chatterjee and his team found that D-PDMP almost totally eliminated the buildup of cholesterol in vital regions of the body. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these new developments is that the compound used to control the atherosclerosis is a widely available, man-made compound.
The researchers tested the drug in mice and rabbits, Chatterjee told The Daily Beast. The mice were known to already have heart problems and the rabbits were known to have healthy hearts. That complicates the study, if only because the control group of the species isn’t specific to one cardiovascular system. Researchers fed both species a high-fat and high-cholesterol diet.
“Indeed, this diet nearly guarantees arteriosclerosis in these transgenic/mutant mice as they fail to handle LDL [low-density liver] cholesterol,” Chatterjee said. “In these animals on this diet, the risk of this disease is nearly 100%. There is one chance in four that your child may have blood cholesterol that is too high. Healthy individuals have a one in two chance of abnormally elevated blood cholesterol,” he said. “More than 70 million Americans have high cholesterol, according to the CDC.”
Cholesterol control is a contentious field in medical research, because the side effects of drugs used to treat the issue can be dangerous. The Daily Beast spoke with John McEvoy, a cardiology fellow in preventive cardiology physician, at Johns Hopkins, who was not involved with this particular study.
“It’s always very important when a new mechanism for treating high cholesterol and heart disease comes about,” McEvoy said. “This pathway and new treatment are very exciting in that regard. However, the next step for these researchers will be making sure there are no side effects of the drug that are harmful to humans.”


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/25/scientists-at-johns-hopkins-come-closer-to-eliminating-heart-disease.html

WHO issues its first hepatitis C treatment guidelines

News release

9 April 2014 | London, United Kingdom - WHO has issued its first guidance for the treatment of hepatitis C, a chronic infection that affects an estimated 130 million to 150 million people and results in 350 000 to 500 000 deaths a year.
The publication of the "WHO Guidelines for the screening, care and treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection" coincides with the availability of more effective and safer oral hepatitis medicines, along with the promise of even more new medicines in the next few years.
“The WHO recommendations are based on a thorough review of the best and latest scientific evidence,” says Dr Stefan Wiktor, who leads WHO’s Global Hepatitis Programme. “The new guidance aims to help countries to improve treatment and care for hepatitis and thereby reduce deaths from liver cancer and cirrhosis.”
WHO will be working with countries to introduce the guidelines as part of their national treatment programmes. WHO support will include assistance to make the new treatments available and consideration of all possible avenues to make them affordable for all. WHO will also assess the quality of hepatitis laboratory tests and generic forms of hepatitis medicines.
“Hepatitis C treatment is currently unaffordable to most patients in need. The challenge now is to ensure that everyone who needs these drugs can access them,” says Dr Peter Beyer, Senior Advisor for the Essential Medicines and Health Products Department at WHO. “Experience has shown that a multi-pronged strategy is required to improve access to treatment, including creating demand for treatment. The development of WHO guidelines is a key step in this process.”

Nine key recommendations

The new guidelines make nine key recommendations. These include approaches to increase the number of people screened for hepatitis C infection, advice as to how to mitigate liver damage for those who are infected and how to select and provide appropriate treatments for chronic hepatitis C infection.

Screening

WHO recommends a screening test for those considered at high risk of infection, followed by another test for those who screen positive, to establish whether they have chronic hepatitis C infection.

Mitigating liver damage

Since alcohol use can accelerate liver damage caused by hepatitis C, WHO now advises that people with chronic hepatitis C infection receive an alcohol assessment. The Organization also recommends providing counseling to reduce alcohol intake for people with moderate or high alcohol use. In addition, the guidelines provide advice on the selection of the most appropriate test to assess the degree of liver damage in those with chronic hepatitis C infection.

Treatment

The guidelines provide recommendations on existing treatments based on interferon injections as well as the new regimens that use only oral medicines. WHO will update recommendations on drug treatments periodically as additional antiviral medicines are registered on the market and new evidence emerges.

Prevention

The 2014 recommendations also summarize for policy makers and health care workers interventions that should be put in place to prevent transmission of hepatitis C, including measures to assure the safety of medical procedures and injections in health care settings and among persons who inject drugs. Rates of new hepatitis C infections remain unacceptably high in many countries because of the reuse of injection equipment and lack of screening of blood transfusions.
“Many people remain unaware - sometimes for decades - that they are infected with hepatitis C,” says Dr Andrew Ball, Senior Advisor for Policy, Strategy and Equity for WHO’s HIV/AIDS Department where the Global Hepatitis Programme is housed. “Today’s launch highlights the need for more awareness and education on hepatitis for the general public. Greater awareness on the risks associated with hepatitis C should lead to a demand for services and expansion of laboratory capacity and clinical services so that more people can be tested, treated and cured.”
There are five main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis B and C have the greatest public health impact because they cause chronic infection which can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis A and E, spread though unsafe water and contaminated food, have the potential to cause outbreaks in certain populations.
Hepatitis C virus is most commonly transmitted through exposure to contaminated blood. Those at risk include people undergoing invasive medical procedures and therapeutic injections where there is poor infection control. Also at risk are those exposed to contaminated injecting and skin piercing equipment, including through injecting drug use, tattooing and body piercing.
The WHO Guidelines for the screening, care and treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection were launched on the eve of the opening of the 2014 International Liver Congress, attended by around 10 000 delegates in London.

Click here to go to WHO

ARE LOVE AND AFFECTION ESSENTIAL FOR SURVIVAL? CAN SOMEONE DIE OF BROKEN HEART? SCIENCE REVEALS.

Are love and affection essential for survival?

Is there an association of depriving of an infant of love and affection and later illness? Are nutritious food and other good physical condition s the only requirement for normal physical and well- being? Another , more question popular way to pose this basic question is: can someone die of broken heart? Such questions focus our attention on the role of emotional deprivation in the process of development. They touch upon the broader issue of how psychological and physical processes relate to each other.

Long before the science of psychology was born , Fredrick II, a thirteen century ruler of sicily and a master of languages ,believed that every person was born already knowing the original human language. According to him, a child would begin to use this built in language without any training or experience as soon as he or she was old enough. To test this hypothesis Fredrick conducted an experiment. A group of foster mothers were put in charge of a number of new born infants. They were to care for the babies in silence, never speaking to them or allowing them to hear human sounds. When at last they spoke, it would reveal, according to Fredrick, the true nature of language the inherited, since nothing could be attributed to their upbringing. His story gave us the sad results of this experiment: “But he labored in vein, because the children all died. For they could not live without the petting and the joyful faces of their foster mothers.”

A fable? Folkore? Could emotional deprivation really have had such profound effect? Writing in 1760, a Spanish churchman noted, “In the foundling home the child become sad and many of the die of sorrow.” Since the early years of century, a number of studies have found signs of physical as well as psychological deterioration in young children who were hospitalized for long periods of time. One study of children in two postwar German orphanages traced the relationship of weight changes to quality of care. Although group of children received the same basic rations for the first 26 weeks, those in orphanage A, with kind kind and loving matron, showed greater weight gain than those in orphanage B, where their matron was harsh and stern. This stern matron transferred to orphanage A at the same time a better diet was begun. A t orphanage B the diet was not changed, but the weight gain increased sharply after the stern mother left. The data showed that growth accelerate with better die of good food and loving care.

The most direct evident for the link between emotional factors and physical development comes from an intensive study of six “thin dwarfs”. Researcher Lytt Gardner 1972 studied children who were underweight and short. These are undersized children also had retarded skeletal development with “bone age” much lesser the their chronological age. All had come from family environment marked by emotional detachment and lack of affection between parents and children. Gardner this condition which which has called deprivation dwarfism , was indeed the physical consequence of emotional deprivation. He found that such children gain weight and begin to grow when they are removed fro their hostile environment, and their again become stunted if the environment is unchanged when they are returned to it. Since the growth problem reappear in children who are returned to a hostile situation, we have “experimental” evidence that deprivation dwarfism is indeed the consequence of emotional deprivation.

Not only has a relation between emotion deprivation and defective physical growth been demonstrated experimentally but physiological link between them has been found. Two structures in the brain are involved in this link with emotional starvation. A region called the hypothalamus (which play a central role in emotional arousal) fails to have its usual stimulating effect on pituitary gland (which secrets growth hormone). Its through such a mechamism that lack of love and human attention at critical, sensitive periods in the development of infant can affect the body-producing deprivation dwarfism in those babies who manage to live at all. Gardner concluded: “deprivation dwarfism is a concrete example-an ‘experiment of nature’, so to speak-that demonstrates the delicacy, complexity of infant-parent interactions.”

The exact process by which deprivation dwarfism works is not yet known. However it seem to be related to impact of emotional on the production of pituitary and growth hormones. Most growth hormones is secreted during sleep, these children may note sleep properly in their stress-filled homes. Recent study with infant rats shows clearly that maternal deprivation lead to immediate suppression of growth hormone, which will increase when the rat pups are returned to the mother(Kuhn, Butler& schanberg, 1978). Apparently, maternal deprivation is bad for all living creatures. But can we extend this tha a person can “die of broken heart”? Psychologist James Lynch believes we can. After reviewing the evidence link loneliness and isolation to health, Lynch assert that “there is biological basis for our need to form human relaltionships. If we fail to fulfill that need, our health is in peril” (Lynch 1977 p xiii). He points to the greater coronary death rates among widows than married womens, among divorced men than married men. Cancer and stokes as well as heart disease, occur twice as often among the divorced as among the married. The ultimate cause of death is, of course, a physical malfunction, such as ventricular fibrillation. But in some still be be discovered way, the likelihood of that breakdown when that person is isolated from the touch,trust, and tenderness of fellow human beings.

CONCLUSION:
Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment. To a large extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact.(WHO)

 
REFERENCE:

1. Psychology and life  10th edition Philip G Zimbardo
2. WHO
   

Dengue Fever Alert to MUHAS Community

Recently, some students have been suspected to have dengue fever. The cases have been reported to the University Management by the Emergency Medicine Department of Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). In this regard, the University is taking various measures such as investigating the environment which led to exposure to dengue vector. However, it has also been necessary to provide information regarding dengue fever to the members of MUHAS community.

A: Transmission

Dengue is a disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito that bites mainly during the day. Patients with dengue fever can pass on the infection through mosquito bites. Physical contact or closeness to a sick person does not transmit dengue.

B: Common symptoms

Dengue manifests as a sudden onset of severe headache (typically behind the eyes), high grade fever, muscle and joint pains and sometimes a rash. Other possible symptoms are nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting. The symptoms resemble malaria a lot (except for the rash). Severe form, which is uncommon, can present with bleeding tendencies.

C: What to do if you suspect you have dengue

If you develop these symptoms please report to the Emergency Medicine Department at Muhimbili National Hospital. Don’t take aspirin, ibuprofen or diclofenac as these medicines can cause internal bleeding. Paracetamol can be used. Take also plenty of fluids.

D: Protection

In order to protect your-self you are advised to avoid mosquito risky areas. Use also mosquito repellent and use insecticide treated bed nets. When sitting outside, it is important to wear loose fitting clothing but with long sleeves to make it harder for mosquitoes to bite you.

E: Important note

• Don’t panic and stay calm as dengue is not transmitted through any other means than mosquito bite.
• Contacts are not at risk of acquiring dengue for having close contact to the case.
• Supportive care is available for dengue patients.
• The University has formed a task force to oversee the problem.
  MUHAS. 
  
  

  

Past HIV Vaccine Trials Reveal New Path to Success

 

A multi-national research team led by Duke Medicine scientists has identified a subclass of antibodies associated with an effective immune response to an HIV vaccine.
The finding, reported in the March 19, 2014, issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, helps explain why a combination of two vaccines was able to show some effect, when one vaccine alone did not. The study also provides key insights that could aid development of new vaccines.
“More is not always better with an antibody response,” said senior author Georgia D. Tomaras, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Immune Responses and Virology at Duke Human Vaccine Institute. “Instead, it’s the underlying quality of the immune response. Going forward with other vaccine trials, it will be important to know the subclass, specificity and antiviral functions of antibodies that are induced.”

Tomaras and colleagues examined two HIV vaccine trials previously conducted in Thailand. The first trial they revisited, called VAX003, was completed in 2003 and studied an investigational vaccine among intravenous drug users. The vaccine was found to be ineffective.

The second trial, known as RV144, concluded in 2009 and involved more than 16,000 adults. It used two vaccines in combination – one as the prime vaccine and the second as a boost. The boost was the same investigational vaccine used in the earlier VAX003 trial. In the RV144 study, the combination vaccine was 31.2 percent effective at preventing HIV infection – a success rate that was unprecedented, but considered too low to advance the vaccine to common use.
In both trials, the vaccines induced the production of antibodies that targeted the same region of the HIV virus. In fact, the vaccine used in the VAX003 trial actually elicited higher levels of most of the antibodies than the prime/boost combination of the more successful RV144 trial.

But there was one exception. Tomaras and colleagues found that participants in the RV144 vaccine trial were more likely to have HIV-specific IgG3 antibodies, compared to individuals in the VAX003 trial. The HIV-specific IgG3 response correlated with decreased infection risk, but the effect waned over time, similar to the declining efficacy observed in the RV144 trial.
“HIV-1 specific IgG3 is one biomarker that can be evaluated in further vaccine candidates. It provides a specific way to benchmark HIV-1 vaccine candidates against the one partially efficacious vaccine to date.” Tomaras said.


 By Duke Medicine News and Communications. Read more

STEM CELL THERAPIES

STEM CELL THERAPIES.

Do you think we are not yet ready for this kind of technology in our health system?

• Ethical consideration
• Is it the right time to introduce this?

More info about stem cell;

• http://www.stemcelltherapies.org/
• http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics1.aspx

                                          

Cancer 'tidal wave' on horizon, warns WHO

Large numbers of people do not know there is a lot they can do to reduce their exposure to risk

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Why is cancer so common?
• Global cancer cases reach 14 million
• Cancer diversity 'threatens drugs'

The globe is facing a "tidal wave" of cancer, and restrictions on alcohol and sugar need to be considered, say World Health Organization scientists.

It predicts the number of cancer cases will reach 24 million a year by 2035, but half could be prevented.
The WHO said there was now a "real need" to focus on cancer prevention by tackling smoking, obesity and drinking.
The World Cancer Research Fund said there was an "alarming" level of naivety about diet's role in cancer.
Fourteen million people a year are diagnosed with cancer, but that is predicted to increase to 19 million by 2025, 22 million by 2030 and 24 million by 2035.
The developing world will bear the brunt of the extra cases.

Chris Wild, the director of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, told the BBC: "The global cancer burden is increasing and quite markedly, due predominately to the ageing of the populations and population growth.
"If we look at the cost of treatment of cancers, it is spiralling out of control, even for the high-income countries. Prevention is absolutely critical and it's been somewhat neglected."
The WHO's World Cancer Report 2014 said the major sources of preventable cancer included:

• Smoking
• Infections
• Alcohol
• Obesity and inactivity
• Radiation, both from the sun and medical scans
• Air pollution and other environmental factors
• Delayed parenthood, having fewer children and not breastfeeding

For most countries, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. However, cervical cancer dominates in large parts of Africa.

Dr Chris Wild, WHO: "We're not going to be able to address this problem by simply improving treatment"

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause. It is thought wider use of the HPV and other vaccines could prevent hundreds of thousands of cancers.
One of the report's editors, Dr Bernard Stewart from the University of New South Wales in Australia, said prevention had a "crucial role in combating the tidal wave of cancer which we see coming across the world".
Dr Stewart said human behaviour was behind many cancers such as the sunbathe "until you're cooked evenly on both sides" approach in his native Australia.
He said it was not the role of the International Agency for Research on Cancer to dictate what should be done.

But he added: "In relation to alcohol, for example, we're all aware of the acute effects, whether it's car accidents or assaults, but there's a burden of disease that's not talked about because it's simply not recognised, specifically involving cancer.
"The extent to which we modify the availability of alcohol, the labelling of alcohol, the promotion of alcohol and the price of alcohol - those things should be on the agenda."
He said there was a similar argument to be had with sugar fuelling obesity, which in turn affected cancer risk.
Continue reading the main story

Continue reading the main story

1/2

Meanwhile, a survey of 2,046 people in the UK by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggested 49% do not know that diet increases the risk of developing cancer.

A third of people said cancer was mainly due to family history, but the charity said no more than 10% of cancers were down to inherited genes.
Amanda McLean, general manager for the WCRF, said: "It's very alarming to see that such a large number of people don't know that there's a lot they can do to significantly reduce their risk of getting cancer.

 

For most countries, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women

"In the UK, about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented through being a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and being regularly physically active.
"These results show that many people still seem to mistakenly accept their chances of getting cancer as a throw of the dice, but by making lifestyle changes today, we can help prevent cancer tomorrow."
It advises a diet packed with vegetables, fruit, and wholegrains; cutting down on alcohol and red meat; and junking processed meat completely.
Dr Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, said: "The most shocking thing about this report's prediction that 14 million cancer cases a year will rise to 22 million globally in the next 20 years is that up to half of all cases could be prevented.
"People can cut their risk of cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices, but it's important to remember that the government and society are also responsible for creating an environment that supports healthy lifestyles.
"It's clear that if we don't act now to curb the number of people getting cancer, we will be at the heart of a global crisis in cancer care within the next two decades."




Source: BBC