Our lives are filled with stress, unhealthy eating habits, chemicals,
and this transformed us into a nation of people that are getting sick
really fast.
The real problem would be that we are developing diseases that are life threatening and sometimes even medication resistant.
One
of these diseases is ovarian cancer. Donnica L. Moore, MD is trying to
raise awareness in her articles "Ovarian Cancer: Reduce Your Risk",
saying that "ovarian cancer is the ninth most common cancer in women
(excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) and the fifth leading cause of
cancer death in women. While it can affect women at any age, the average
age of diagnosis is 63; the average age of death from ovarian cancer is
71. Yet nearly 5% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 34 or
under.
According to American Cancer Society data, 21,880 American
women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2010 and 13,850 women died
as a result", and also that "fewer than 20% of ovarian cancers are
caught early, in stage 1, when they’re most treatable and the patient
has the highest survival rate. Unfortunately, most women with ovarian
cancer have progressed to stage 3 by the time they’re diagnosed, when
the prognosis is much lower. This is why the motto of many ovarian
cancer advocates is, ".
A while back, ovarian cancer was
considered a "silent killer", because it was thought to have no symptoms
in the early stages, but as the time went by, doctors noticed that many
women diagnosed with this condition had the same symptoms like:
"bloating or increased abdominal girth; pelvic or abdominal pain (or
pain with intercourse); frequent or urgent urination; and either
difficulty eating or a sense of feeling full very quickly", says Dr.
Moore.
There isn't a certain "recipe" for ovarian cancer, meaning
that doctors don't know exactly what causes it, but they have
identified some risk factors that can eventually lead to developing the
disease. "The risk of ovarian cancer increases with increasing age;
family history of ovarian or breast cancers; personal history of breast
cancer; infertility (with or without taking infertility medications) or
never having been pregnant by choice; endometriosis; postmenopausal
hormone replacement therapy use; and genetic factors (particularly BrCA1
or BrCA2 mutations). The risk of ovarian cancer is also lower among
women whose first child is born before she turns 30 years old. Risk also
decreases with each successive pregnancy and with breastfeeding for at
least one year", she explains further.
Although it might seem
hard to believe, oral contraception can help you lower the risk of
ovarian cancer. "ANY oral contraceptive use was associated with a
significant reduction in risk of developing ovarian cancer. The studies
showed that women who take birth control pills for more than 5 years
reduce their risk of by 50%", says Dr. Moore. Also "the risk reduction
benefit persists for up to 30 years after discontinuing oral
contraceptive use as well".
Your diet and lifestyle can have a
big influence on protecting yourself from ovarian cancer as well as
other types of cancer. "A landmark report on diet and cancer published
by the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2007 noted that
non-starchy vegetables may offer protection against ovarian cancer",
says dr. Donnica L. Moore, advising us to "increase your consumption of
these two foods: tomato sauce and raw carrots. Kaempferol - a flavonoid
found in tea, broccoli, kale and spinach, and luteolin, which is
provided by peppers, carrots, cabbage and celery, have both been
identified as cancer protective".
Dr. Moore also advices us to
enrich our diet with whole grains like oats, quinoa, barley and spelt,
among others, and to have one or two cups of black tea per day.
"Laboratory studies suggest that tea could protect against ovarian
cancer, as well as other cancers, in several ways. The most promising
theories focus on the powerful antioxidants in tea that may help prevent
and repair damage to cells' DNA that could otherwise lead to cancer"
says the doctor in her article.