Featured In: The Coalville Times, Friday, 10th February 2023

HEALTH MATTERS WITH DR Hanna Robbins

February Sees World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day is about finding out how cancer affects us all and the power we have to reduce cancer risk. More than 1 in 3 cancers could be prevented with a healthy diet, healthy weight and being active. What are the choices we can make to reduce the risk of cancer?

• Stopping smoking is the most important way to reduce our risk of cancer
• Stopping smoking reduces the risk of 15 types of cancer including mouth, liver, stom- ach, bowel, ovary, and blood (leukaemia)
• Quitting at any age reduces the risk – it’s never too late
• limiting alcohol reduces the risk of cancer of the mouth, gullet, voicebox, windpipe, bowel (gut) and breast
• Being active most days and keeping a health weight reduces the risk of cancer of the bladder, breast, bowel womb, gullet, kidney and stomach
• Avoiding sun beds, wearing sun cream, covering your skin and staying in the shade on hot days reduces the risk of skin cancer
• Fast fact: smoking causes 8 million deaths each year and cause at least 1 in 4 of all cancer deaths

What else can we do?

• Know your body: when cancer is caught early it can more often be cured
• Teach people around us to pay attention and spot the signs
• Have our screening tests to catch signs of cancer early

What is screening for Cancer?

Bowel cancer screening is offered to peo- ple aged 50-60 up to 74. It is offered every 2 years. You will be sent a kit in the post, and you do the test at home. The test looks for traces of blood in the poo.

Breast cancer screening is offered to peo- ple aged 50-70. Breast screening is done using a mammogram – an x-ray of your breasts.

Cervical screening is offered to people aged 25-64. This is also called a smear test and is done at your GP surgery.

You will be invited for screening if you are registered with a GP.