Perhaps the scariest word you can hear uttered from your physician’s lips is the “C” word. Yeah, cancer.  According to U.S. statistics on cancer occurrences, more than 43 percent of men run the risk of developing all types of cancer, and one in four stands a chance of dying from the disease. For women, the risk of developing cancer is about 38 percent. The chance of dying? One in five. That’s why cancer is so scary, a fourth or a fifth of us will lose our lives to it.

Abnormal Cells Are the Problem

Cancer is the general term for about 100 diseases. Though there are many different types of cancers, one thing they have in common is that they are made of abnormal cells that grow out of control that cause illness of death. What makes a cancer cell different from normal cells? Cancer cells don’t die as they should in a normal cell’s cycle. They continue to grow and create new abnormal cancer cells, often forming tumors. Cancer cells can also invade nearby tissues and organs, growing into them. Normal cells can’t do this.

Genetics and Cancer

Inherited genes for cancers are mostly non-players in the blame game. Genetics or “family cancer syndrome” only accounts for about five or ten percent of cancer cases. This is often referred to as “inherited cancer” but cancer itself isn’t inherited, the gene is. Genetic defects are also known as “mutations.”

Overwhelmingly, most genetic defects are caused by mistakes in the replication of DNA, the blueprint of the cell, or the introduction of foreign substances from the environment, including lifestyle-connected habits, such as tobacco.

7 Things that Could Give You Cancer

So listed here are things that could give you cancer. Some of them are obvious, some not so apparent. See which ones apply to you, and if the spirit moves you, do something about it!