Cancer we are told is killing us in our droves anecdotal evidence would suggest there’s an epidemic you only have to mention the C word and people cringe in fear, how many people have you heard say they know someone that is dying or living with cancer? We have become a society preoccupied with death rather than living we spend our time running around having invasive tests that give us the all clear or condemn us to an early grave. But are the tests the worry the angst really justified? Are the rates of cancer on the increase? And will there come a day when cancer can be relegated to the text books of medical history?
We are actually living longer
Statistically we are living longer better living conditions access to better food and improved sanitation has seen the outlook for populations around the globe improve dramatically, unfortunately our access to more energy dense food has seen our waist lines explode our coronary vascular systems clog and our physical fitness decline. We have become the end product of over consumption we have had too much of a good thing and its killing us.
Heart disease and cancer
Contrary to what most people believe cancer isn’t the biggest killer its lifestyle disease that’s killing us in plague proportions. Coronary Heart disease contrary to what women are being told is their biggest killer. It’s estimated approximately 30 women a day die from heart disease, women are 4 times more likely to die from heart disease than breast cancer. In 2006 10,797 women died from heart disease compared to 2,628 from breast cancer.
Prioritising disease
It’s not a case of what disease deserves the most attention but keeping the risks of disease in perspective. Although breast cancer and heart disease can have a genetic predisposition, environmental factors are the most important triggers for the general population and environmental factors unlike genetic predisposition can be addressed.
