LUNG CANCER RISKS FOR NON-SMOKERS



I recently had a short discussion with an old high school friend who was raising money for a national lung cancer advocacy group.  The initiating connection was that another high school friend had been diagnosed with lung cancer but was not a smoker.

So the promotion goes that we need to raise money for these lung cancer groups so that we can find a cure for lung cancer.  As anyone donating money to an organization such as this should do, a mere few minutes of due diligence on the organization’s website was enlightening.  There was not a shred of money that went to prevention. 

All the money was earmarked for early detection and treatment.  So how would this information help non-smokers NOT develop cancer in the future?  It wouldn’t.

On the other hand, a quick search on the American Institute for Cancer Research’s website (www.aicr.org) found some helpful information about preventing lung cancer in the first place.

This particular article again stresses that, yes–even in non-smokers–there are ways to reduce your chances of developing lung cancer.  The culprit in this study?  The usual one–prediabetes.

Smoking ups your risk of lung cancer about 10 times.  Pretty heavy risk.  Being prediabetic, however, also doubles your risk.  Not as high as smoking, certainly, but certainly a major player and one that is completely modifiable.

Read more…

James Bogash

For more than a decade, Dr. Bogash has stayed current with the medical literature as it relates to physiology, disease prevention and disease management. He uses his knowledge to educate patients, the community and cyberspace on the best way to avoid and / or manage chronic diseases using lifestyle and targeted supplementation.







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