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I had a patient when I was med student who was an interesting example of this theory..
She was 94, was a chronic chain smoker...anywhere from 1-2 packs/day of cigarettes, since age 16. She came into the hospital b/c she had the flu. This woman had seen a doctor for years, regularly, and at the most was once put on cholesterol medication. She smoked and smoked and was counseled extensively, according to what she told me, to stop smoking. But she never did...
She left the hospital days later in nearly great condition...or as great as one can be at age 94.
She never had cancer or any other issues one would think she'd have as a result of her tobacco abuse.
NECS found that centenarians generally share the following characteristics:
• Almost all are healthy enough to live independently at least until age 90.
• Few are obese.
• Most have never smoked or smoked very little.
• None drink heavily, if at all.
• They are physically active.
• Almost all have many close relationships.
• Many are religious.
• Most (95 percent) make it into their 90s with their mental abilities intact.
• About one-third are free from dementia at 100 or older.
My MIL recently had her 94th birthday.
She lived independently until two years ago, likes a glass or two of wine, was physically active until the last few years, has always maintained a healthy weight, had a cluster of friends whom she has mostly outlived, and has only developed some short term memory problems in the last two or three years. I do not remember the exact number, but her HDL was very high on no medication. She has no chronic health problems. She has never smoked during the 45 years I have known her, though I do not know about before that. I fully expect her to get to 100, and would not be surprised if she eventually became the oldest living human! I hope my kids have inherited her good genetics.
We are often told about how X or A causes cancer, and yet we don't even know what even causes cancer to happen in the first place. Whenever someone blames something for cancer they use flawed arguments like "person X use to do A and thus A is to blame!" that aren't even hard science. The fact of the matter is nobody has ever been able to actually PROVE that individual items or behaviors cause cancer. There are smokers who smoke 12 packs a day who don't have cancer and then there are others who live super healthy lives and the die at 50 from some kind of cancer anyway. Couple this with the fact that members from the same dynasties tend to die from cancer and that the risk of cancer goes up as you age, and I fail to see how cancer isn't just genetic/luck.
Here is my view on what causes cancer: I think it's just a byproduct of aging. Normally your body reproduces it's lost cells but as times goes by this becomes harder for your body to do and this increases the odds of accidents happening. And one of those accidents happen to be cancer. Depending on genetics, this will happen sooner for some but later (or not even at all) for others before they die. The lucky live to old age and die before cancer can develop, and the unlucky have crap genetics and develop cancer while they are younger.
And that's it. I don't think lifestyle has ANYTHING to do with cancer at all. That isn't to say that people with bad lifestyle can't harm their health in other ways, but I don't think a bad lifestyle causes cancer. It's all just genetics. You either get it or you don't.
I tend to agree except I think if you have an active cancer, certain lifestyles (smoking, for example) will exacerbate it.
We all have cancers in our body. It's when they come to life, rear their ugly heads, and spread themselves around that we have a problem.
As far as the CDC, I wouldn't believe a word they say. In fact, if they say it I believe the opposite.
Cancer is a huge moneymaker and it's out of control!
I tend to agree except I think if you have an active cancer, certain lifestyles (smoking, for example) will exacerbate it.
We all have cancers in our body. It's when they come to life, rear their ugly heads, and spread themselves around that we have a problem.
As far as the CDC, I wouldn't believe a word they say. In fact, if they say it I believe the opposite.
Cancer is a huge moneymaker and it's out of control!
If you have a cancer the natural history will vary with the type. Many prostate cancers, for example, grow very slowly and never spread. Very aggressive cancers can kill quickly.
We all have potentially malignant cells but we do not all have cancers. Most abnormal cells are policed up and never become cancers.
Choosing not to "believe a word" the CDC says is pretty short sighted.
Treating cancer is indeed expensive. So is treating coronary heart disease. Do you think doctors and hospitals should not be paid for what they do?
I had a patient when I was med student who was an interesting example of this theory..
She was 94, was a chronic chain smoker...anywhere from 1-2 packs/day of cigarettes, since age 16. When I saw her, she was still actively smoking, but had dwindled her consumption down to 1/2 pack/day. She came into the hospital b/c she had the flu. This woman had seen a doctor for years, regularly, and at the most was once put on cholesterol medication. She smoked and smoked and was counseled extensively, according to what she told me, to stop smoking. But she never did...
She left the hospital days later in nearly great condition...or as great as one can be at age 94.
She never had cancer or any other issues one would think she'd have as a result of her tobacco abuse.
Just some food for thought..
My thought on this "food" is...so what? People win the lottery, too, but nobody recommends playing the lottery as a reasonable way of planning for retirement. This woman won the genetic lottery. The vast majority of us don't.
NECS found that centenarians generally share the following characteristics:
• Almost all are healthy enough to live independently at least until age 90.
• Few are obese.
• Most have never smoked or smoked very little.
• None drink heavily, if at all.
• They are physically active.
• Almost all have many close relationships.
• Many are religious.
• Most (95 percent) make it into their 90s with their mental abilities intact.
• About one-third are free from dementia at 100 or older.
My MIL recently had her 94th birthday.
She lived independently until two years ago, likes a glass or two of wine, was physically active until the last few years, has always maintained a healthy weight, had a cluster of friends whom she has mostly outlived, and has only developed some short term memory problems in the last two or three years. I do not remember the exact number, but her HDL was very high on no medication. She has no chronic health problems. She has never smoked during the 45 years I have known her, though I do not know about before that. I fully expect her to get to 100, and would not be surprised if she eventually became the oldest living human! I hope my kids have inherited her good genetics.
Blue Zones are interesting, too.
Actually, I hope your kids inherit her good lifestyle habits, because, despite protests to the contrary, lifestyle habits are more important than genetics.
A fair point by the OP about cancer being genetic. Just stay away from pathogens, nuclear sites and dangerous cancer causing chemicals.
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