Here are the 10 ways.

1. Moderate your alcohol consumption: drinking alcohol increases the risks of cancers of the pharynx, mouth, larynx, rectum, esophagus, colon, and liver. Women should limit themselves to one alcoholic beverage per day. Men should limit themselves to two.

2. Eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables: The American Cancer Society recommendation is to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily since they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances that decrease the risk of cancer. Recent studies have shown that the connection between eating vegetables and fruits and lower risk of cancer risk isn’t as strong as once thought. However the majority of researchers still subscribe to the idea that a plant-based diet is one of the best ways to secure overall health.

3. Think about chemoprevention: Chemoprevention is using natural or synthetic compounds to reduce the cancer risk or recurrence. Tamoxifen, prescribed to prevent breast cancer in women, is the most famous chemoprevention agent. The downside: chemoprevention drugs may have serious side effects.

4. Decrease the amount of fat in your diet: Studies suggest that high-fat diets are linked to several types of cancer, including postmenopausal breast, colon, and lung cancer. High-fat diets are usually high in calories and increase the risk of obesity. More study is required to understand which types of fat should be avoided and what amount effects cancer risk.

5. Stay within your ideal weight zone: Being overweight will tend to increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as well as cancers of the endometrium, colon, esophagus and kidney. There have been studies showing that obesity increases the risk of cancers of the prostate, liver, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, ovary and cervix. Some studies estimate that excess weight is a factor in 15 to 20 percent of cancer-related deaths.

6. Get screening exams: Pap tests, mammograms, colonoscopies and other routine screenings obviously don’t prevent cancer. But screenings will detect cancers early, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

7. Exercise: Evidence increasingly suggests that people who exercise have lower risk of certain cancers than those who are sedentary. From 45 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day, on most days of the week, is considered optimal to decrease the risk of breast and colorectal cancers.

8. Limit radiation exposure: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, from the sun, sunlamps or commercial tanning beds, is the primary cause of skin cancer.

9. Stop smoking or don’t start smoking: The risk of cancers caused by smoking is proportional with the length of time a person has smoked and the quantity of cigarettes smoked. Lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among Americans is caused by smoking. Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer and it is never too late to take action on this.

10. Guard yourself from infection: Infections caused by viruses are well known to be risk factors for a wide variety of cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a sexually transmitted disease, is the most frequent cause of cervical cancer. Chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C aggravate the risk of liver cancer. They are usually spread by contact with contaminated blood, contaminated needles or sex. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to AIDS, additionally increase the risk of many cancers.

As it turns out BBC News has reported the use of screening tests other than smears may prevent of more deaths caused by cervical cancer. This is so for women who are over 35.

Italian researchers headed by Dr. Guglielmo Ronco of the Turin Centre for Cancer Prevention studied data on over 90,000 women over three and a half years. The findings were that women who have been tested for the human papillomavirus (HPV) suffered less cancers than women who were tested using the more common smear technique.

Testing for HPV can pick up early pre-cancerous alterations to cervical cells, which means that the correct treatment can be started at an early stage. The director of information at the Cancer Research UK,, Dr. Leslie Walker state that “we might be able to spot the warning signs even earlier and it might, in future, mean that women go for screening less often.”

The good news according to the research is that HPV testing does not require the same amount of testing. Once every five years will do whereas smears need to be done once every three years.

Good for women under the age of 35

Unfortunately this type of testing is not the best one for all women. Since HPV testing is generally more sensitive, it also tends to find problems that, when discovered in younger women, often correct themselves over time and are truly better left untreated. Therefore, the testing is not best suited for women under the age of 35 in order to avoid being over-treated.

We encourage you to read more on this.

Doctor Speaks About Cervical Cancer Screenings

Dr. Bernadine Healy speaks about ACOG’s new recommendations for less frequent pap smears to detect cervical cancer in this video.

The investigation into why poorer women have a higher risk of the disease found they tended to have sex about four years earlier than more affluent women.

Previously, it had been thought the disparity was the result of low screening uptake in poorer areas.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Although the difference in cervical cancer incidence between rich and poor – across the world – had been noted for many years, it was not clear why this is the case.

Especially as rates of infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) – the sexually transmitted infection linked with the vast majority of cervical cancers – seemed to be similar across all groups.

The study confirmed that the higher rates of cervical cancer were not linked to higher HPV levels.

But what it did reveal is that the two-fold increased risk was largely explained by women from poorer backgrounds starting to have sex at a younger age.

The age at which a woman had her first baby was also an important factor.

Screening was found to have some effect on the level of risk.

But the number of sexual partners a woman has and smoking did not account for any of the difference.

Tobacco

This is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world. It causes over 80% of all lung cancer deaths, and 30% of all cancer deaths in the third world. This includes deaths from cancer of the oral cavity, larynx, oesophagus and stomach. A comprehensive program which would include a stop to tobacco advertising, increased taxation on tobacco products, and stop smoking programs can greatly reduce the use of tobacco in many countries. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted measures in May 2003, aims to curb tobacco-related deaths and disease. We are looking for updates on their progress.

Diet

Changes in diet is another critical action to take to prevent and control cancer. There are know links between obesity and many types of cancer such as oesophagus, colorectum, breast, endometrium and kidney. Diets high in fruits and vegetables have a preventative effect against a great number of cancers. On the other hand, consumption of red and preserved meat is connected with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.Healthy eating habits which ameliorate the development of diet-related cancers have the added benefit of lowering the potential for cardiovascular disease.

Exercise

Regular physical exercise along with a healthy body weight and healthy diet, will greatly reduce the chances of cancer. National policies and programs have been implemented in some countries which raise awareness and reduce exposure to cancer risk factors. To ensure that citizens are provided with the information and the tools they need to adopt healthy lifestyles governments may play a large role.

Preventing Disease

Infectious agents are responsible for almost one quarter of cancer deaths in the third world and 1 in 20 in industrialized countries. Viral hepatitis B and C can cause liver cancer; human papilloma virus infection can cause cancer of the cervix; the bacterium Helicobacter pylori can greatly increase the risk of stomach cancer. In some countries the parasitic infection schistosomiasis increases the risk of bladder cancer and in other countries the liver fluke increases the risk of cholangiocarcinoma to do with the bile ducts system. Preventive measures include vaccination and prevention of infection and infestation.

Radiation

Exposure to radiation is well known to cause some cancers. Solar ultraviolet radiation can raise the risk of all types of skin cancer. Avoiding excessive exposure, use of sunscreen and protective clothing are important preventive activities.

Asbestos

On the subject of home and workplace safety, asbestos must be looked at because it can cause lung cancer. Also aniline dyes have been linked to bladder cancer. Benzene has been linked to leukemia. The prevention of certain occupational and environmental exposure to these and other chemicals are important steps to take in preventing cancer.

Smile For Cancer Prevention video

The endorsement from Food and Drug Administration advisers moves the Cervarix vaccine closer to the U.S. market to compete with Merck & Co Inc’s Gardasil shot.

The panel is set to vote later on Wednesday on whether to allow Merck to widen its potential market for Gardasil by promoting the vaccine to men and boys as young as 9 for prevention of genital warts.

Both vaccines are designed to prevent infection from the human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts.