Even now many people do not really understand what cancer is despite growing up with it all around them. Could it be true that we are all born with it? Well, it is a disease that’s characterized by a large number of cells that continue to grow and divide; they invade and destroy adjacent tissues and may even spread to other anatomical sites through a process called metastasis.

Benign tumors do not normally grow larger, metastasize or threaten the body and organs like malignant (cancerous) tumors do although it is possible for a malignant tumor to have started out as benign. Whilst it is not generally a young person’s disease, it can occur at any age; cancer is responsible for around 130,000 deaths for every one million people each year. Cancer is an abnormality in the body’s cells and can be caused by a number of agents including carcinogens or poisons such as smoke, infectious agents or radiation.

Just to confuse the issue more, it is possible inherit genes that may be pre-disposed to it as well as faulty genetic DNA replication. However this does not mean you will contract it as the relationship between carcinogens and an individual’s genetic makeup is a complex one.

Research into the cause of cancer continues around the globe and is the disease most frequently studied on a regular basis. More knowledge is being acquiredabout cancer each year. More information is being gathered about all illnesses and why some people are more prone to certain conditions. We all want to know more about the causes of cancer what we can do to help prevent this illness from striking.

The food you eat on a regular basis will have an effect on your health, especially in the future. Some believe it may even be causing a large number of cases in certain groups of people. Foods that could be a problem are Salt, sugar, saturated fat and cholesterol. Recent studies have shown that calcium received from dairy products can be harmful to men and could encourage the onset of prostate cancer.

Cancer can affect any part of the body from the bones, blood, skin or organs. nowhere is safe from it. Sometimes the disease is only picked up through routine screening. Usually the cancer is at an early stage and a person may have a better chance of being cured. the number of different types of cancer that can be treated has increased dramatically in recent years with so much intensive research being carried out. All this research is gradually leading towards more effective treatments for cancer and it is not always the terminal disease it used to be.