Reply to Are we "the government" funding any research for cancer prevention?

Forum Index » Health and Medicine

Reply to "Are we "the government" funding any research for cancer prevention?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think you understand statistics. If you are a 40 year-old woman your risk of getting breast cancer is lower than .5%. So if a certain diet increases your risk by 15% you are talking of an increase of 15% of .5%. Yes, it would be accurate to say that diet has an effect on your breast cancer risk. But it would also be accurate to say that the effect is extremely minimal.

This is true for pretty much everything except tobacco and sun exposure. The increase in risk that has been tied to diet is minimal.

I am not "resistant" to lifestyle factors. I am still a vegetarian and an athlete even though neither practice prevented my breast cancer. But I have no delusion that it will prevent cancer. I was not some freaky exception that got cancer anyway. The freaky exceptions -- that will never be specifically identified -- are the women who would have gotten breast cancer but for their diet. Those are your 15% of .5%.

I get so sick of the food nazis who judge other people's diets so they can prove to themselves that they are safe, unlike those suckers who got cancer. I say this as someone who would pass your test anyway. You are not safe because you do whatever it is you are doing. Your risk is only marginally lower, you are not even close to safe.

Cancer is a disease of again. If you life long enough, you will get cancer.[/quote]

I have cancer; I was diagnosed in my 40's.  Many people have asked me why...and my answer is the wrong parents.  The reason why this whole thread insults me is the undercurrent:  if I lived my life correctly, I would not have cancer.....The only way I would not have had cancer is if I did what my sister did:  had her ovaries and breasts removed because she is BRCA1+ (as am I).  In my case, the cancer was in a kidney.  Even if I knew I would get kidney cancer, I did not know which one.....and I need a kidney.[/quote]
Considering the title of this thread, why the "insult"? Not every cancer discussion must address your personal situation. They just can't. Many, many of our sicknesses are in fact affected by our environment, including diet. There's no more denying that.

Are you also insulted when doctors advise people to eat more healthy foods and to get more exercise? Why?
[/quote]

You can ask that question only because you haven't had cancer and you have no idea what its like when people try to figure out what you did wrong to cancer yourself. I've had people ask me point blank. (You used to be obese? Nope. You smoked, right? Nope.) There's no denying the effect of diet if  you are referring to that 15% of .5%. You are right, there's no denying that. But since the vast majority of us don't fit into that sliver of the population its pretty much irrelevant. Thats the part you don;t seem to understand.

Doctors never advise me to eat more healthy foods and to get more exercise because I already do. Now if they told me that doing these things would have prevented my cancer then, yes, I would be insulted.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics