“The Environment Plays a Larger Role in Cancer Risk Than Genes, Study Finds”

Cancer is the top ten cause of death for Chinese people. It is generally believed that gene mutation is the main factor for cancer treatment, but an authoritative study found that the environment has more influence on whether people will actually get cancer. Domestic physician Li Sixian said that environmental factors including smoking, drinking, viral infection, stress, and diet can cause enough gene mutations in a cell to eventually lead to cancer. Therefore, although people cannot change their genes, they still have more than half of the influence. Decide if you really will get cancer.

Physician Li Sixian shared a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on his Facebook page. This study explored the influence of “genes” and “environment” on cancer. The subjects were from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. 44,788 pairs of twins were selected because they had the most similar genes to analyze the rate of cancer in these twins after 32 years of follow-up.

The results showed that the cancers with increased attack rate associated with genes were gastric cancer, rectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer, but in terms of data, the cancers with statistical significance were prostate cancer (42%), rectal cancer ( 35%), breast cancer (27%).

The study found that even if the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are most related to breast cancer, take 1940 as the watershed, those born before 1940 have mutations in these two genes, the probability of developing breast cancer is only 24%, but people born after 1940 , with these two gene mutations, the probability of suffering from breast cancer is as high as 67%, which shows the impact of environmental changes on cancer.

Li Sixian said that studies have shown that even for the most genetically related cancers, the influence of genes is no more than half. “For most cancers, the environment is the main cause of cancer.” People can control the environment, including tobacco and alcohol, Viral infection, stress, diet, to determine whether you will get cancer.

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