Cancer News
Quitting smoking can reduce cancer risk at any age
Kicking the habit leads to cancer risk reductions after the first decade of quitting
People who quit smoking benefitted from lower cancer risk starting from 10 years after they kicked the habit regardless of their age , according to a large study done in South Korea .
Similarly , 15 years after quitting , people saw a 50 percent drop in their cancer risk compared to their peers who kept smoking . Lung cancer risk decreased to a greater extent and faster than the risk for other malignancies .
Researchers analysed data from almost three million people who had a health check-up since 2002 and looked at who developed cancer until 2019 .
“ Regardless of age , quitting smoking has been shown to reduce the risk of developing cancer , especially lung cancer , with early cessation before middle age leading to significant reductions ,” �r �in-Kyoung Oh , who led the study at the National Cancer Center near Seoul , told the Guardian .
People in the study were followed up for an average of more than 13 years and those who quit smoking experienced a 42 percent decrease in lung cancer risk , while the drop stood at 27 , 20 , and 14 percent for liver , colorectal , and stomach cancers , respectively .
People who kicked the habit before turning 50 saw their lung cancer risk drop by 57 percent , while older smokers had smaller decreases .
“ Individuals who quit smoking after middle age had a 40 percent lower risk of developing lung cancer compared to those who continued smoking . Don ’ t think it ’ s too late . We encourage you to consider starting your journey to quit smoking ,” added Dr Oh .
Drinking coffee cuts bowel cancer recurrence risk
The more people drink the greater the benefits , but more research is needed to gather stronger evidence
Coffee lovers who recovered from bowel cancer and drank more than four cups a day were able to reduce their risk of recurrence , which happens when cancer comes back after treatment .
Researchers in the Netherlands analysed data from 1,700 people who were treated for colorectal cancer , another term for bowel malignancies , and found that individuals drinking four cups of coffee every day had a 32 percent lower risk of recurrence than those who drank less than two cups per day . “ People diagnosed with bowel cancer are living longer than before . Unfortunately , in about 20 percent of those treated the disease returns and can be fatal . So , it is intriguing that this study suggests drinking 3-4 cups of coffee may reduce the recurrence of bowel cancer ,” Dr Ellen Kampman , a professor of nutrition and disease at Wageningen University and Research who led the study , said in a press release .
The study was observational , meaning that the researchers couldn ’ t establish coffee drinking was the direct cause of lower recurrence rates , so more research will be needed to gather stronger evidence .
“ We are now doing further research to confirm the effect we are seeing is causative rather than simply an association . We are hopeful , however , that the finding is real because it appears to be dose dependent — the more coffee drunk , the greater the effect . This has been previously supported by other , though smaller , studies ,” she added .
18 ISSUE 2 | 2024 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com