Quote: (01-11-2015 03:53 PM)Plato Wrote:Genetics plays a part.
@JustlookingForAgoodTime - lifestyle doesn't have much impact on your chances of getting cancer.
Quote:Quote:
Most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking, a study has suggested.
A US team were trying to explain why some tissues were millions of times more vulnerable to cancer than others.
The results, in the journal Science, showed two thirds of the cancer types analysed were caused just by chance mutations rather than lifestyle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30641833
It is interesting when you pull out specific numbers. Let's look at lung cancer and smoking.
82.8% of smokers will never get lung cancer.
Whereas 98.7% of non-smokers will never get lung cancer.
It is clear that smoking dramatically increases your chances of getting lung cancer. But what is often forgotten - is that the vast majority of smokers will never get lung cancer.
Of course - any analysis in these areas can get complicated very quickly. Since - cigarettes will kill smokers in other ways - such that they never get round to developing lung cancer. So - the above is just a rough overview of this area.
Anyway - with these numbers in mind - it is hardly a surprise that we all know lots of people who smoked their whole lives and never suffered as a result.
I don't smoke myself - but I am interested in this area. Since smokers are treat by society like immoral fools with a death risk. When the evidence does not not back up those claims.
Another interesting fact relates to emphysema (one of the most unpleasant ways of dying). Basically it is this. The human body can only withstand so much wear and tear from the pollutants found in ordinary air. As such - irregardless of whether or not you have ever smoked - your lungs will wear out and develop emphysema by the time you hit 120 years of age (not that you will).
It is a silly fact - but it is a reminder that even with perfect health - the human body can only survive for a certain number of years. And - in the case of your lungs - they will break down around the age of 120, at the very latest.
On my moms side: mom smoked died of lung cancer. Uncle same thing. Cousin same thing. Aunt stopped smoking and dies emphysema. So i have NO choice but NOT to smoke!