13 Ways To Decrease Your Risk Of Getting Cancer

A lot of people think of getting cancer as something that you have no control over, but that├óΓé¼Γäós not entirely true.
“As many as 70% of known causes of cancers are avoidable and related to lifestyle,” says Thomas A. Sellers, PhD, associate director for cancer prevention and control at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
Here are some ways you can decrease your risk of getting cancer:

1. Filter Your Tap Water
You’ll reduce your exposure to known or suspected carcinogens and hormone-disrupting chemicals. A new report from the President’s Cancer Panel on how to reduce exposure to carcinogens suggests that home-filtered tap water is a safer bet than bottled water, whose quality often is not higher├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥and in some cases is worse├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥than that of municipal sources, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group.
2. Stop Topping Your Tank
So say the EPA and the President’s Cancer Panel: Pumping one last squirt of gas into your car after the nozzle clicks off can spill fuel and foil the pump’s vapor recovery system, designed to keep toxic chemicals such as cancer-causing benzene out of the air, where they can come in contact with your skin or get into your lungs.
3. Marinate Meat Before Grilling

Processed, charred, and well-done meats can contain cancer-causing heterocyclic amines, which form when meat is seared at high temperatures, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which get into food when it’s charcoal broiled. If you do grill, add rosemary and thyme to your favorite marinade and soak meat for at least an hour before cooking. The antioxidant-rich spices can cut HCAs by as much as 87%, according to research at Kansas State University.
4. Caffeinate Every Day

Java lovers who drank 5 or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 40% decreased risk of brain cancer, compared with people who drank the least in a 2010 British study. A 5-cup-a-day coffee habit reduces risks of cancers of the pharynx and mouth almost as much.
5. Water Down Your Risks

Drinking plenty of water and other liquids may reduce the risk of bladder cancer by diluting the concentration of cancer-causing agents in urine and helping to f lush them through the bladder faster. Drink at least 8 cups of liquid a day, suggests the American Cancer Society.
6. Load Up On Really Green Greens

Next time you’re choosing salad fixings, reach for the darkest varieties. The chlorophyll that gives them their color is loaded with magnesium, which some large studies have found lowers the risk of colon cancer in women.
7. Snack On Brazil Nuts

They’re a stellar source of selenium, an antioxidant that lowers the risk of bladder cancer in women, according to research from Dartmouth Medical School. Other studies have found that people with high blood levels of selenium have lower rates of dying of lung and colorectal cancers.
8. Burn Off This Breast Cancer Risk Factor

Moderate exercise such as brisk walking 2 hours a week cuts risk of breast cancer 18%. Regular workouts may lower your risks by helping you burn fat, which otherwise produces its own estrogen, a known contributor to cancer.
9. Ask Your Doc About Breast Density

Women whose mammograms have revealed breast density readings of 75% or more have a cancer risk 4 to 5 times higher than that of women with low density scores, according to recent research.
10. Skip The Dry Cleaner

A solvent known as perc (short for perchloroethylene) that’s used in traditional dry cleaning may cause liver and kidney cancers and leukemia, according to an EPA finding backed in early 2010 by the National Academies of Science. The main dangers are to workers who handle chemicals or treated clothes using older machines, although experts have not concluded that consumers are also at increased cancer risk. Less toxic alternatives: Hand-wash clothes with mild soap and air-dry them, spot cleaning if necessary with white vinegar.
11. Head Off Cell Phone Risks

Use your cell phone only for short calls or texts, or use a hands-free device that keeps the phone├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥and the radio frequency energy it emits├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥away from your head. The point is more to preempt any risk than to protect against a proven danger: Evidence that cell phones increase brain cancer risk is “neither consistent nor conclusive,” says the President’s Cancer Panel report. But a number of review studies suggest there’s a link.
12. Block The Sun With Color

Choosing your outdoor outfit wisely may help protect against skin cancer, say Spanish scientists. In their research, blue and red fabrics offered significantly better protection against the sun’s UV rays than white and yellow ones did.
13. Eat Clean Foods

The President’s Cancer Panel recommends buying meat free of antibiotics and added hormones, which are suspected of causing endocrine problems, including cancer. The report also advises that you purchase produce grown without pesticides or wash conventionally grown food thoroughly to remove residues.