Name: Three ways to reduce your risk of cancer | BBC Ideas
Uploaded: 2025-06-19T17:43:44.000Z
Duration: 4 min 50 s
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So, this is a dinosaur bone from our collection.

So a lot of people think that cancer is a modern disease.

But we know from the fossil record from 200 million years ago that dinosaurs were affected by cancer too.

The difference between dinosaurs of the past and us living in our world today, is that there are different factors that can contribute and lead to cancer.

Around four in 10 cancers could be prevented through things that we can change ourselves, such as keeping a healthy weight, being more active.

But there are some things that we do that can increase our risk of cancer, and we need to know what those are so that we can reduce our risk and live as healthier life as possible.

[THREE WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR RISK OF CANCER]

Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK.

Not just lung cancer, esophageal cancer, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, and bowel cancer and many, many more.

And it's not just burning tobacco, lighting cigarettes that does it.

Things like shisha can cause cancers, as can smokeless tobacco too.

And whether it's more harmful than cigarettes.

The field or the area of vaping hasn't been well studied. We haven't been doing this long enough to really understand.

So for those who are smoking and using vaping as a transition out of that, I hope that that continues to work for you.

Um, but for those who have considered picking up vaping, I would highly suggest that you don't. We just don't know the impacts.

Stopping smoke and by far is the best thing you can do for your health.

The human papilloma virus or HPV is a common virus.

And actually eight out of 10 of us will be infected with this virus at some time.

Most of the time, HPV is symptomless and has no issues.

We can actually clear this virus ourselves most of the time.

But in those that are unable to clear it, it can cause cell changes, which can lead to abnormal cells, which can then lead on to cervical cancer.

It wasn't really in public awareness until personalities like Jade Goody talked about her cervical cancer struggle.

But understanding HPV, preventing HPV and screening for HPV are one of the main important things we can do to reduce the risk of cervical cancer and other cancers too.

But the good news is that the HPV vaccination that we now give to girls and boys is helping to stop the spread of the infection.

Did you know that one in 10 cases of lung cancer are caused by air pollution?

Obviously, the majority of them come from smoking, which is sort of very direct air pollution directly into your lungs.

But the way it works is tiny molecules in the air floating around pollutants and things like cars from factories and from other sources can get into the lungs.

They can irritate them and they wake up some sleeping damage cells there, which can go on to become lung cancer

Levels of air pollution are higher in towns and in cities, but we also know that smoke indoors from wood fires or passive smoking can also increase your risk of getting lung cancer.

It's not easy to move away from where you live in order to reduce your risk of air pollution and therefore your risk of cancer.

So what we need is we need lots of action to make the world we live in a much greener, cleaner place.

Sometimes this sort of thing can sound scary, you know, we live in a world where there's lots of things around us that can potentially cause us harm.

However, there's an awful lot we can do to prevent more cancers.

So the future of cancer research is really bright and it's really exciting that people are living longer and living healthier even post-cancer diagnosis.

There are so many brilliant research teams in the UK, around the world who are really examining every aspect of cancer and how we can tackle it.

Whether it's through diagnosing it better, through imaging technologies or blood tests and finding new treatments that, you know, help people live better quality lives whilst being treated for cancer.

And yes, of course, there are some things that can increase your risk of getting cancer, but the important thing is that if you know about these risks, you can take steps to try and reduce your risk in life.

And you can try and live as healthier life as possible.

There's no miracle cure for cancer, but if you do notice anything that's wrong with you, go to the doctors and as sooner you're spotted, the sooner you can be treated and the sooner you can just have a healthy life.