Cancer Fighting Foods
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Symptoms of Gall Bladder Cancer — The symptoms are more or less the same as that of gall bladder stones: pain in the right upper abdomen associated with indigestion particularly with fatty foods and with radiation to back and right shoulder; often fever with or without jaundice (yellow colouration of eyes and passage of dark coloured urine). Because of this confusion of symptoms with stones disease, gall bladder cancer is often not diagnosed in time in more than 50-60% of the cases, and it becomes far too advanced till it is detected. However, if there is a lump or swelling in the right upper abdomen, lack of appetite, loss of desire to eat, weight loss in any person known to be suffering from the symptoms of gall stones or otherwise, then gall bladder cancer must be ruled out. Precautions against gall Bladder Cancer — Keep digestive system in top order by eating nutritious foods, do regular exercise and lead active lifestyle.
Skin Cancer (Malignant Melanomas)
Malignant Melanomas are cancers of the cells that produce melanin. More than 90% cancers of the skin are caused by excessive exposure to the sun. These arise in pigment containing tissue, usually the skin on the eyes, from a mole or pigmented skin lesion. It is important to watch for changes in size, shape or colour of moles. Malignant melanomas tend to have an irregular border, an irregular colour (often a mixture of brown, black or even blue) and they can itch, bleed or ooze. Melanomas can appear anywhere on the body, not just at sites of sun exposure.
Excessive exposure to the utlraviolet (UV) rays from the sun is widely considered to be the most important environmental factor in developing skin cancer. UVA rays penetrate the subcutaneous layer of the skin, causing wrinkles. They can trigger deadly melanoma and less deadly basal and squamous-cell carcinomas. UVB rays, which reach just your dermis (the second skin layer under epidermis), cause sunburns and many cases of melanoma. UV radiation causes mutations in the body’s DNA, which can lead to tumour formation and suppress the immune system, making the skin susceptible to cancer. UV radiation also causes indirect damage through the formation of harmful free radicals.
Although skin cancer is more common in fairer people, brown and even black skinned people can get the condition. However in dark skinned people melanoma develops on difficult-to-diagnose spots such as feet, toenails, the mucous membranes of the mouth, nasal passages, and genitals, unlike whiter skins, where lesions appear on areas of the skin that are commonly hit by the sun’s rays. Note: Be on the lookout that fits the ABCDE criteria that is: melanoma is Asymmetrical; has an irregular jagged Border; contains two or more different Colours; has a Diameter larger than a pencil eraser; and/or has Evolved (changed shape) from the last time you checked on it.
Leukaemia (Blood Cancer)
It is the condition in which malignant cells in the blood multiply such that there is a growth of cancerous cells in the body, which makes us susceptible to infections. Exact causes of blood cancer are not known. But some factors such as high exposure to radiation and some cancer-fighting drugs increase the risk. Depending on the white blood cells affected, the cancer can arise in lymphoid (pertaining to lymphatic system) or in myeloid (pertaining to bone-marrow) cells. Leukaemia is either chronic (gets worse slowly) or acute (gets worse quickly). So the types of leukaemia are: chronic lymphocytic, chronic myeloid, acute lymphocytic and acute myeloid. In India over 2 persons per 1,00,000 suffer from this disease.
Childhood Cancers
Although cancer is mostly a disease of ageing, children also are affected. The most common childhood cancers include leukaemia (30%), brain tumours (25%) and neuroblastomas (10%). The less common childhood cancers include Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Wilms tumours, tumours of the kidneys, retinoblastoma, germ cell tumour (mostly in the testes and ovaries, but may also develop in the chest, abdomen, spine or brain), osteosarcomas, bone cancer (usually affecting the long bones of the legs or arms).
