Haha right on! We Americans love to attack the pharma industry while demanding magic bullet cures, all the while doing nothing ourselves to prevent or change health outcomes!

What saddens me the most about the entire health care debate is how the right paints the debate as FREEDOM vs TYRANNY, and how this would ruin people's choices etc. etc.... Did we choose to become the most unhealthy nation in the western world??? Would good health care really be so bad for us. At this point, I don't even think the average american could fight for their own freedom is their lives depended on it. This is a real problem.

let's get to work making healthier food production a priority here in the U.S. Look at the things we commonly buy at the store and the restaurants. Lots of junky fat, salt, sugar, carbs, and various chemicals.

IF the drug companies could make a pill to prevent cancer, you can bet it would cost more than you have.

And cancer is only one unhealthy result of eating poorly. Let's not forget all the others.

Exercise? At least get a bicycle and a two story house.

flylow: Excellent point. There was a time when only the rich could afford junk foods. Now they're the cheapest, but to buy quality/healthy food....... that's gonna cost ya.

Of late, I have been spending about 4 hours a day of hard snow shoveling. Even though I'm over 60, there are not too many who get more excercise than I do, but I'm still (by my standards) about 40 pounds overweight - I cook and clean up (usually eating leftovers cause it's easier than saving them) for the family, and though I feel good, many would consider me obese. I worked with a guy who played soccer (over 40's), but had to lose weight to get insurance. There is no good measurement to determine who is leading a healthy life-style, and who isn't.

You are so right. Quality healthful food is quite costly, and organic food is very expensive. So many of our foods have been treated with pesticides and then waxed. One is faced with the choice of peeling an apple and missing the majority of it's nutrients or spending 15 minutes using hot water, dish detergent and a vegetable brush trying to wash off the wax and chemicals underneath.

As someone mentioned earlier meat and dairy products contribute tremendous amounts of carcinogens yet these industries get large subsidies from our government. The susidies should be going to the produce farmers so we could all afford better food choices!

We need to support organic and local farmers and then the price will go down! If the demand is not there the prices will be higher to make ends meet on their end. I or my family, will not eat fast food... and I do not think a good excuse is that it is cheaper. Just being lazy; let's all be honest with each other.

Everyone who has a yard should have an apple tree or some other fruit tree and a vegetable garden of some kind. When I was working an hours drive away, I got some old tractor tires and filled them with dirt for tomatoes and onions and a few other veggies. Now I have gone back to raising 12 rows of veggies. I have already planted a few potatoes for this year. I hope to get the rotor tiller out next week if the ground is not too wet. Some people raise veggies in their flower beds. Even just one tomato plant in a pot is better than nothing.

Growing your own garden is not always a good answer. If you use lawn food, or pesticides then your own veggies can possibly be worse. Potted plants always have plant food in them too. Growing real organic food is actually not that easy if you think about it.

did anyone ever consider that we were all given the ability to choose if or not to smoke untill your told you made a bad choice and now have cancer? always looking to hold anyone but yourself for your life threating desisions make the rite choice for yourself dont be a puppet people!

Martha, I had tomato plants and a pear tree...bugs and plant rot got to them all. Waste of time and and money and effort. We all can't be farmers.

Here's an idea.

The Federal government should "Mandate" that we buy exercise equipment, and "Mandate" that we walk or bicycle to work, and "Mandate" that we buy healthy foods.

Since they can "Mandate" that we buy health insurance, what's to stop them since the same principles apply?

You forget that the vast majority of people do not pay for their own health care. If they work they may pay a percentage but not enough to make a difference. The ones that don't work get "free" insurance so would not be motivated by a discount on FREE.

Not even going to start on obamacare since that will increase the number of people that do not care what it costs since the government will pay for even more people.

Still this article implies it is just inactivity that will cause cancer, they need to specify how many people in their study are optimum weight and eat properly but are inactive. I suspect their data will be inconclusive since there are few people like this.

You would also have to have agreement on WHAT is the "healthy weight" for a person. That would be rather difficult. What measurement would you use? Straight pounds? BMI? Body fat percentage? Some combination of all three?

Plus there are many "skinny" people who are unhealthy with high blood pressure and bad cholesterol who couldn't climb a flight of stairs and "heavy" people with great numbers who run marathons!

So, while it's a great idea, I'm not sure what criteria would be used to establish that "healthy weight".

This exists in some form already - if you buy health insurance on your own (i.e., are not lucky enough to have an employer who provides health insurance) you have to pay more to get it if you are heavier or lead what the insurers deem an unhealthy lifestyle.

My wife's insurance is like this. If you follow their weight guidelines and keep your cholesterol low the cost is less. It's called a wellness plan.

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Another good point, many cancers have been linked to age (due to degradation of genetic material at the telomere). So as a society even if we live longer, stay healthier, we can still get cancer. Damned if we do, Damned if we don't. Most people are not educated enough to understand this phenomena, and would rather put blame on insurance companies or pharma companies every time they get sick rather than look at underlying causes for their malady.

While your statement is true MmmMmmMmmBeer, the older you are, the more carcinogens you get exposed to. So, yes, the elderly are at risk of cancer, but if certain habits were changed, and better food choices were used, the risk of cancer would decrease, and thus, start to lower insurance costs and generally, lessen the need for such dramatic end of life care, which is both expensive, and an awful way to die.

Absolutely correct! We've cured many of the things we used to die of first -- flu, typhoid, polio, etc. etc.

But, there is merit to a healthy lifestyle as well in controlling those cancers of old age as well.

Diet is important in preventing cancer because the antioxidants found in fruits & vegetables are known to reduce free radicals, which can trigger the changes in DNA required for cancer growth to begin in a cell. Likewise, animal proteins have been shown in research to PROMOTE the changes in DNA that trigger cancer growth in the cell. Our environment -- food, exercise, and atmosphere -- interacts with our genes and depending on how we behave, can be instrumental in either preventing or promoting cancer. So we really have a great deal of power in determining whether or not we will become a victim of cancer.

You are all forgetting that no one lives forever. Everyone is going to die from something. Yes, a good diet, exercise, no smoking, etc., can contribute to a better quality of life, but nothing will guarantee that cancer won't ultimately be responsible for your death. If it isn't cancer, it will be heart disease, kidney failure, etc., if you live long enough.

MmmmMmmBeer

"Many people are not educated enough"......Im educated enough to notice that you are a self absorbed jerk.

Sounds good but too much money in the industry for them to give up that easily!

Yes, do that. It is working so well with dope!

Don't just blame the industry, the state and federal governments are more addicted to tobacco money than the users are to nicotine. I also say if tobacco is so deadly, then ban it and destroy all crops.

YES!! BAN CIGARETTES! They have done MORE damage than anything else. I have lifelong respiratory problems due to my parents smoking. Now when I walk by people who are smoking and I smell the smoke I get an asthma attack. I wish smokers would be more considerate and not stand right by the door of stores and restaurants smoking so that I have to walk through it. Tobacco is a death sentence.

dont put yourself in harms "smokes" way if somthing bothers you dont do it you can choose wether to eat bad food , breathe 2nd hand smoke you need something so despretly to walk into a cloud of smoke? amazing how little effort people apply to make a simple choice to better there own health get off your as— yous your head.

Non-Smokers shouldn't have to go out of their way to avoid smoke....smokers should move well clear of any non-smokers before they light up.

Or, just continue to inform people about these carcinogens and hope that people "vote" with choice. If they choose organics and other chemical free products, the market will move in that direction. The problem is that every time someone tries to educate people about the dangers of some of the chemicals in our food, they get branded as socialists, or hippies, or some other crap and then the public writes them off. Good education and awareness would cure most our society's ills.

I agree that you can reduce your exposure to most of those chemicals simply by avoiding processed foods, but I would also suggest that people become needlessly hyper-concerned when they hear the word "chemicals". There are many chemicals that occur naturally in fruits and vegetables that have been shown to be potentially carcinogenic in RATS in HIGH DOSES (same way they test any other chemical for carcinogenic properties), and all the things that are good for you in fruits and vegetables? Those are chemicals with scary sounding names too. I'm not at all suggesting that there aren't chemicals that we don't want to be exposed to, or that the government shouldn't have a role in protecting consumer's from them. I'm simply suggesting a balanced outlook can help people sort out the genuine threats from the background noise.

If governments (including ours) would STOP telling us what to do, what to eat, what to drink, how long to work, ride a bike to work, stop smoking INSTEAD they should take out all of the unncessary chemical additives in our food, even in cigarettes and cigarette filters, water, even stuff they put on our clothes, in our soaps, cooking ware, etc. (get the idea, there is chemical stuff in almost everything) perphaps they would see a DECREASE in the incidence of cancer.

Had you rather the government just keep you completely in the dark? Good grief - those are merely suggestions.

It's those that try to dictate who can and who can't marry, how a woman is to handle her pregnancy, etc. who are overreaching their boundaries.

Diane, this is such an excellent point. The chemicals and pesticides that are in our environment-introduced by humans-are killing us. While we can make good choices, be it go organic, exercise, stop smoking, we are still surrounded by pollutants. Just consider the recent article about the acceptable amount of jet fuel allowed in our drinking water. I found it interesting that they did not put smoking at the front of the article considering how incredibly detrimental it is to everyone's health. Talk about chemicals.

Diane - very good point. How many people know that the 'Fragrant Chemicals' used in so many 'scented' household products are really toxic chemicals which have been proven to cause cancer and many other serious health effects.

Bounce dryer sheets, Febrese, plug-in air fresheners, scented laundry products, and many others are all toxic!!! Read the studies from the University of Washington:

University of Washington Links:

http://water.washington.edu/Outreach/Events/AnnualReview/2009AR/steinemann.pdf

http://www.ce.washington.edu/people/faculty/bios/documents/Steinemann_09_Undisclosed_Ingredients.pdf

Diane... "Government" doesn't put additives, chemicals, etc into our food chain...."Business" does, and we, literally, "buy" in to it. We make the choices as to what to buy, what to eat, and so on.

Perhaps we should all be more proactive in what we spend our money on! Perhaps we should spend more of our cash on safer products. They ARE available, you know...but it does take a bit more effort to locate them.

Don't blame the government...... Look into the mirror for the real culprit....

One can avoid many unhealthy ingredients, such as cottonseed and rapeseed oil, by reading the ingredients listed on the product's label. One can also read the notation "fragrance free" on the labels of laundry detergents, etc.

You can read, can't you? ;-)

dont eat dont breathe and have the goverment ban everthing you cant stand including your abilty to think you dont need it if you want the gov to do it for you.

What if it was not an unhealthy lifestyle that was making someone fat?

If its not a choice - it's still quite expensive to insure. The added costs of an "unfair" system penalize the hundreds of "naturally healthier" people. Additionally, the few who will be charged extra because of "unfair genetics" will remain in the minority - their sacrifice will be for the benefit of the majority.

I also read The China Study. My diet is COMPLETELY different after reading that book. If you have changed your diet, you've given yourself the best chance for recovery. I wish you the best!

YOU still Here?

I disagree. In research, animal proteins have been proved to promote cancer growth. In epidemiological studies, the countries in which people consume the fewest number of their daily calories from animal products have the lowest rates of cancer. If you want to avoid cancer, limit or eliminate animal products, especially casein. A plant-based, low-fat diet with a large variety of organic fruits and vegetables, along with regular exercise, is your best bet to avoid cancer.

Or, at least reduce brain damage.

Not while the number of trashy reality shows is skyrocketing!

We could do that just by cutting all the ads for prescription drugs.

dont watch the stupid shows and to the other comment you think the fda would let you know what the medicine man is trying to sink in your head was going to be healthy and cure anything hell no you can only sell a cure one time folks pay attention to the gov dont forget to keep buying the supressients. for the sake of nothing else better to do then live check out altered states . com wont give you cancer to look.

Rule to live by: if it's "bland", "tasteless", "unappealing" it's probably healthy.

rule#2 if it doesnt spoil its not healthy if it goes bad chances are its good for you.

Loosen that tin foil cap, Bert Fonte, and get a grip!

Add Andy Kaufman to your list. He was a "health nut" that died of cancer in his late 30's.

Recent statistics tell us that about 10% of lung cancers are found in non-smokers. There are other determining factors prevalent in these victims, i.e., radon gas, second-hand smoke. Smoking IS the most deadly thing one can do to one's self. There is no rationalizing that.

Yes, C_D_J55, and I just bet that you are God's gift to womankind. Funny how the losers who are still living in their parents' basement are the first to criticize others. Besides, what does you comment have to do with the topic of this article?

On the contrary, it is quite clear what causes most cancers: Exposure to carcinogens, that is chemicals that mutate cells causing them to become cancerous.

There are genetic predispositions to cancer but a predisposition does not mean that one will develop cancer. For example: Your father and grandfather and great grandfather may have all died from lung cancer. You may well have inherited a gene that predisposes you to lung cancer. However if your father, grandfather and great grandfather may have all been smokers and you are not. You will be far less likely that the previous three generations to develop cancer of the lungs because you have not subjected yourself to the carcinogens in tobacco smoke that will trigger the cancer.

This is just a very, very simple example of how it might work.

You are the exception these days. Most people sit at desks and get little or no exercise at all. We even see flabby, obese construction workers with beer guts in our modern world because they sit at a machine all day that does the work for them.