What Is The Cause of Cancer?

What is the real cause of cancer? A horrible word isn't it?



I will explain here quite simply and briefly what the cause of cancer is. Exactly how antioxidants play a role in fighting cancer is explained in detail within the website. I have 'linked' in the appropiate places to make it easy for you to navigate around the site. Ok? So here goes....

It's not a single disease, but a group of similar diseases. There are over 100 different types of cancer and they all involve an abnormal behaviour in some of the body's cells. And just about all cancers involve tumors.

Let me get one thing straight...Cancer is not contagious. I remember visiting an old aunt at hospital who was dying of cancer as a very young kid in the 1960's, When she finally passed away I cried like crazy and having many scary nightmares thinking that I would catch cancer and die!

Ok, so a tumor is basically excess tissue. How is this excess tissue formed?



Cells in our bodies grow and divide in a regular and orderly fashion. The cells eventually die (a process called apoptosis). What they are actually doing is a sort of cell suicide.

When the cells lose the ability to control their growth, they can very quickly divide themselves with no sense of order at all....now we have excess tissue and a tumor. That basically is the cause of cancer.

There are two types of tumors...Benign and malignant.

Benign... They are not cancerous and do not spread around your body. Surgery is needed to remove them and only in very very rare cases(such as benign brain tumors) are they likely to cause death.

Malignant (Nasty)... These tumors are cancerous. They can spread throughout the body and spawn new tumors. They have the ability to infiltrate the body and destroy nearby tissue.

Cancer cells just keep reproducing themselves, seemingly unable to self-destruct.

Cancer can involve any tissue of the body and have many different forms in each body area. Most cancers are named for the type of cell or organ in which they start.

If a cancer spreads, the new tumor bears the same name as the original(primary) tumor. For example...if you have lung cancer and it spreads to the brain, it is not called brain cancer, it will be called lung cancer. Get it?

The frequency of a particular cancer may depend on gender. While skin cancer is the most common type of malignancy for both men and women, the second most common type in men is prostate cancer and in women, breast cancer.

Virtually all organs and tissues are susceptible to cancer.

Free radicals play a big part in cell mutation (DNA) creating more abnormal cells. Research has found that cancerous tumors can generate their own free radicals and so it goes on....and because tumors are changing rapidly they seem to always be a step ahead of the treatment.

Also free radicals can suppress the immune system which destroys the body's defense against cancer. This can be one of the reasons for the cause of cancer.

There are many symptoms of cancer. The classics ones are...

• Rapid Weight Loss
• Change In Wart Or Mole
• A Sore That Has Trouble Healing
• Difficulty swallowing
• Chronic Hoarsness
• Blood in phlegm, Urine or Stools
• Chronic Abdominal Pain
• A Change In shape or Size of The Testicles
• Bowel Habit Changes
• A Lump In The Breast