Contents:
- Medical Video: Preventing Cervical Cancer
- A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of cervical cancer
- 1. Sports
- 2. Stop smoking
- 3. Maintain a healthy diet
- 4. Have a pap smear test
Medical Video: Preventing Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is one of the biggest scourges for women. Apart from being caused by genetic factors, the development of cancer is greatly influenced by the lifestyle you live in. The good news, cervical cancer is one of the many cancers that can be prevented by vaccination, the HPV vaccine. But what about a healthy diet and lifestyle? Is it possible to prevent cervical cancer by living a healthy life?
A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of cervical cancer
According to an article published in the Nutrition Journal, about 30 to 40 percent of cancers can be prevented by changes in diet and lifestyle. Although there are no certain foods that can prevent cervical cancer, some of the following healthy lifestyles can help reduce your risk of cervical cancer.
1. Sports
It's no secret that regular exercise provides a myriad of benefits for you. In addition to maintaining body fitness, exercise can also maintain your weight and overcome the accumulation of fat throughout the body. Because, people who are overweight are more at risk for cancer.
If you don't have a lot of time to exercise, you can still move actively through simple things every day such as walking to a bus stop, choosing to climb stairs rather than an office elevator, or routinely doing homework before going to the office.
2. Stop smoking
Apart from preventing cancer of the throat and lungs, efforts to stop smoking can also keep you from cervical cancer. A study reported that smokers were twice as likely to develop cervical cancer as non-smokers. This is because smoking can reduce the function of the immune system which often leads to the development of cervical cancer.
3. Maintain a healthy diet
A study published in Nutrition and Cancer found that people who consumed foods rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, folates, carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E and fiber had a 40 to 60 percent reduction in cervical cancer risk. These substances are reported to help clear HPV infection faster by inhibiting changes in cervical cells to cancer cells.
Now, you can get the benefits of these substances by eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Some examples of vegetables that reduce the risk of cervical cancer are broccoli, cabbage, garlic, onion, lettuce, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin. While the list of fruits that you can consume are avocados, apples, strawberries, orange juice.
If you are a fan of tea, try replacing it with green tea which can help prevent you from developing cervical cancer.
4. Have a pap smear test
If you are sexually active, then you must undergo a pap smear test. Because, this test is useful to see the possibility of the development of cervical cancer cells. Through a pap smear test, your obstetrician will take samples of your cervical cells to look for possible cells that can turn into cancer. So, if there is a precancerous cell that is suspect, then the cell can be removed immediately.
The American Cancer Society recommends that starting at age 21, women must undergo a pap smear every three years to the age of 29 years. After that, you are recommended to routinely do pap smears up to 65 years of age within 3-5 years. The earlier you do a pap smear, the more you can prevent cancer cells from developing more severely.
However, although the lifestyle and eating patterns above can reduce the risk of cervical cancer formation, but this cannot prevent infection with HPV virus which is the culprit of cervical cancer. For this reason, you still need the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
