Most Cancer are Due to Bad Luck not Lifestyle

A recent research published in Journal Science has suggested that most cancer are mostly due to bad luck and not diet, lifestyle or genes.Random mutations that occur in DNA when cells divide.They are largely responsible for two thirds (about 65%) of adult cancers across a wide range of tissues with environmental factors or defective gene

contributing a third.

But the scientists warn that poor lifestyle can add to the “bad luck factor” involved in cancer. As our cells divide, they may alter their genetic code increasing cancer risks. Some tissues are likely to give cancer than others

Professor Bert Vogelstein, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, US suggested cancers are caused by a combination of bad luck, the environment and heredity.

“We found that the types of cancer that had higher risk than predicted by the number of stem cell divisions were precisely the ones you’d expect, including lung cancer, which is linked to smoking; skin cancer, linked to sun exposure; and forms of cancers associated with hereditary syndromes,” Prof Vogelstein added.

People who live a long life despite exposure to cancer-causing agents such as tobacco are not so much blessed with good genes as good luck, said the professor.

He pointed out that large intestine tissue underwent four times more stem cell divisions than small intestine tissue. And colon cancer was much more prevalent than small intestine cancer. For the full article click here