Genetics vs. Lifestyle: How Much Cancer Risk Can You Control?

On the most basic level, cancer is caused when a genetic mutation causes uncontrolled growth of damaged cells in your body, creating a cancerous tumor. Unfortunately, there’s no single culprit behind that initial mutation.

Cancerous mutations can be caused by a wide range of lifestyle and genetic factors. Knowing how these forces work together can help you lower your risk for many cancers – or be prepared to deal with some cancers in their earlier, more treatable, stages.

Genetic Factors

Researchers are constantly learning more about genetic links to cancer. The disease can’t be passed from a parent to a child. But hereditary gene mutations linked to certain cancers can be inherited from a parent. It’s estimated that up to 10 percent of cancers are caused by those hereditary gene mutations.

Breast cancer, in particular, has received considerable attention because of its link to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations, which are passed down in families. Women with one of these mutations have a significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer during their lifetimes.

Other cancers with known genetic links include ovarian, colon and prostate cancer. That’s why patients who have parents or other relatives with these cancers are often urged to get earlier or more frequent cancer screenings (colonoscopies, for example) because of the potential for a genetic link.

Lifestyle Factors

Of greater concern are the host of environmental and lifestyle factors that contribute to the development of cancer. To better understand this, consider how your body maintains itself over the course of your lifetime. As you age, there is a constant cycle of cells dying off and then being replaced by your body.

Every time your body replaces a dying cell, there is a tiny chance that it will make a defective copy. Most of those defective cells are destroyed by your body’s defense systems. But when one of those cells survives, it has the potential to reproduce and create a cancerous tumor.

So, whenever you expose yourself to harmful toxins or environmental factors, you risk killing off more of your body’s cells, creating more opportunity for cellular errors when your body replaces them.

Two notable examples of this are skin and lung cancer. Most skin cancers are caused by exposure to UV radiation from the sun and tanning beds. Tanning, regardless of whether you get a sunburn, damages your skin at a cellular level. Likewise, most cases of lung cancer are linked to smoking, which introduces harmful toxins into your body.

Fortunately, there are many things you can do to reduce your cancer risk from these non-genetic factors. Among the strategies:

• Avoid all forms of tobacco, which has been linked to multiple cancers
• Wear sunscreen regularly
• Eat a healthy diet, emphasizing fruits and vegetables
• Exercise regularly
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Reduce stress in your life
• Following cancer-screening guidelines

Consulting a Genetics Counselor

A genetics counselor may be recommended if it appears that a particular cancer or group of cancers is prevalent in your family. There are three factors that could indicate hereditary cancer risk.

1. The age at which cancer has developed in your family. There is an average age associated with various cancers (for breast cancer, for example, it is early 60s). When cancer appears at a much younger age, that is a clue that the cancer may be hereditary.
2. The type of cancer. Certain cancers – male breast, ovarian and pancreatic, for example – are more likely to have hereditary links.
3. Links to other cancers. Certain cancers can be genetically connected. The BRCA genes, for example, are related both to breast and ovarian cancer. So, a family history of breast cancer could actually put you at higher risk for ovarian cancer, as well.

Determining that there is a genetic link can have several ramifications. It can affect your treatment, since different tumor types are often targeted with different therapies. It can also affect your risk for additional cancers in the future. And it can help your family members take precautions – earlier screenings or preventive surgeries, for example – for their own health.

This content is not AI generated.