Filed under: All Cancers , Environment , Diets , Exercise , Smoking , Sunday Seven Who knows which pieces of cancer information floating around out there are actually true? I don't. Do cell phones cause cancer? Some say yes, some say no, I say I'm confused! Luckily, I happened upon this Discovery Health article that highlights a variety of myths and then offers the lowdown on each one. Here are seven of them: Myth #1. There is currently a cure for cancer, but the medical industry won't tell the public about it because they make too much money treating cancer patients. Chalk this up to urban legend. And consider this: doctors, laboratory scientists, and their families and friends die of cancer at the same rate as everyone else in the United States. How about this: medical breakthroughs happen all the time and are quickly applied. Think about antibiotics and vaccines -- like the polio vaccine -- that have transformed health care. How about this? Not too long ago, less than one in 10 kids with leukemia survived 10 years. Now, the cure rate is nearly 80 percent. Seems like progress to me. Myth #2. Electronic devices, like cell phones, can cause cancer in the people who use them. Although very few studies suggest a link between rare types of brain tumors and cell phone use, the consensus among most research is that there is no consistent association between the two. The same goes for microwaves and related appliances that emit low-frequency radiation. Myth #3. Treating cancer with surgery causes it to spread throughout the body. This belief may have started many years ago when most patients already had very advanced forms of cancer at the time of surgery. Doctors may have detected a widespread disease that could not be successfully treated. When the patient died a short time later, some may have believed the surgery caused the cells to spread and kill the patient. The truth, however, is that doctors have long known how to safely take biopsies and remove tumors without causing any spread. In many cases, surgery is essential for survival. In cases where cells could be dislodged, doctors take proper precautions. For example, in testicular cancer cases, the entire testicle is removed to prevent this scenario. Myth #4. Regularly eating meat cooked on a charcoal grill won't increase cancer risk. Chemists have determined that grilling meats creates chemicals linked to cancer in animals, and you can increase your cancer risk by eating too much grilled red meat or chicken -- or even meat pan-fried at a very high temperature. So stay away from meat or chicken that is well-done or burnt. And try to eat grilled meats only occasionally. Myth #5. The risk of dying from cancer in the United States is increasing. Nope. Sometimes cancer figures are reported out of context, but the actual number of people dying from cancer is dropping. Cancer diagnoses and deaths have been decreasing since the early 1990s -- and less than half of those diagnosed with cancer today will die of the disease. Myth #6. What someone does as a young adult has little impact on their chances of getting cancer later in life. Lifestyle choices that begin early in life can increase the risk of developing cancer. The use of tobacco, diet, exercise, and exposure to the sun all have a cumulative effect, and most cases of cancer are consequences of many years of engaging in risky behaviors. More than two-thirds of all fatal cancer cases could have been prevented with simple lifestyle changes. Clearly, what we do early in life can come back to haunt us. Myth #7. You can prevent skin cancer by putting on one application of sunscreen at the start of each day. Slathering on sunscreen on a daily basis can give a false sense of security. It simply must be reapplied -- and even then, it offers on a certain level of protection. To make sure your skin is safe from UV rays, keep that sunscreen around, but also gather up some hats, long-sleeved shirts, and sunglasses -- and use them. And try to hide from the sun between the hours of 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments