Cancer has become a frighteningly common word in recent years. You read about it in the paper, hear about it on television, and even if you’re lucky enough not to have had it, you probably know someone who has. Worse still, if you believe everything you read or hear, it seems that just about everything we do in life is going to cause it.  Sunshine, peanut butter, chlorine and fluoride in your water, diesel fumes in the air, and the gasoline fumes you breathe when filling your gas tank, have all been indicated as factors that increase your risk of getting cancer. It’s enough to make a person want to crawl in a hole and eat nothing but anti-oxidants for the rest of his life. Despite all the scary news floating around out there, let me put some of this in perspective for you….

Firstly, it is important to understand what cancer is. Our DNA is comprised, to a large extent, of carbon. A small percentage of that carbon is radioactive and is constantly breaking down, resulting in a mutation of the cell. Most of those mutations wind up being fatal only to the cell in question, but the fact that you have so many cells in your body means that approximately six times every second, you have a cell somewhere in your body that is mutating. Now, of those mutating cells, a small percentage will result in the uncontrolled cell divisions we call cancers. When a cell mutates and goes wrong, we have immune mechanisms in place to identify that those cells are no longer team players and eliminate them before they become dangerous. So, cancer spreads in the body when the cellular machinery and our immune systems both fail in their jobs simultaneously.

This means two things: You are never going to bring your risk of getting cancer down to zero but you do not need to build your life around avoiding cancer either. In other words living down in a hole in fear isn’t your best option!  So what is the best strategy to adopt? Building a robust immune system!

We’ve been mutating six times a second for as long as humans have existed on earth and our bodies are designed to cope with the occasional mutation. Full blown malignant cancer is as much a failure of our immune systems as our DNA. That’s why it’s no coincidence that so many things I’ve been telling you for years, such as improving your immune function through vitamins, anti-oxidants, exercise, and weight loss, also turn out to be cancer fighting interventions. Immune support is cancer resistance…the two are not separate issues at all. Along with your regular regimen of medical care, boosting your immune system is the most helpful thing you can do to prevent cancer.

Pick your battles! Eat peanut butter if you really love it; clean (preferably distill) your water; quit smoking; don’t buy a home right next to the freeway; stand a bit upwind when filling your gas tank; and please don’t spend time in tanning beds. Be smart! Bottom line, minimize your risks where you can but don’t panic over the times when you can’t. The number one best defense against cancer isn’t just trying to avoid everything that causes it. The best defense is building the optimal you!