The cure will come eventually and the world will rejoice that this awful disease that can strike anyone at any time has been silenced. The problem is we don’t fully understand the causes of cancer although there are many things in our life that can trigger it.

Even now many people do not really understand what cancer is despite growing up with it all around them. Could it be true that we are all born with it? The main characteristic of cancer is that it starts with a large group of abnormal cells that keep growing and dividing when they reach a certain size; they then invade other cells and repeat the process continuing to spread to other areas of the body in a process called metastasis.

A benign tumor, unlike a malignant cancerous one, does not continue to grow and invade other cells. They affect many people without them even knowing they are there. In rare circumstances a benign tumor may turn malignant. Cancer is an abnormality in the body’s cells and can be caused by a number of agents including carcinogens or poisons such as smoke, infectious agents or radiation.

For some people the problem lies not with any form of external poison although faults with their parents DNA or genetic makeup can result in a person being born with the diseased cells. Complex relationships between carcinogens and a person’s genetic makeup may explain why only some develop it after exposure to a known carcinogen.

Research into the cause of cancer continues around the globe and is the disease most frequently studied on a regular basis. More knowledge is being acquired about cancer each year. Once scientists discover the reason behind why some individuals are more likely to contract a disease than others, we may be closer to creating a cure. By understanding the origins of cancer, perhaps we will be able to avoid contracting it until we come up with a cure.

There is a saying ‘You Are What You Eat’ and this is now being looked at more closely as food may have a direct effect on the incidence of the disease in certain groups. There are certain foods that are considered risky such as excess salt in the diet, too much saturated fat and overindulgence in dairy foods. In particular, excess calcium is believed to have a direct effect on the incidence of prostrate cancer amongst men around the world.

Cancer can strike anywhere in the body and each is a specialist type to the organ or part of the body it has infected. This is an insidious disease that can take a long time to surface but fortunately the number of forms that can be treated is increasing all the time. For those people diagnosed with cancer, my heart goes out to them and their families; however, the constant research is paying off and the life expectancy of cancer victims is increasing all the time.