I was recently reading an article in a magazine that spoke about people that either never smoked or were considered “never smokers” which meant that they had taken a drag on fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lives and their diagnosis of lung cancer, even though they were healthy adults that exercised regularly and ate right.  Of course this caught my eye, since I lost my mother to lung cancer when she was just 47 years of age and never smoked a day in her life.  Sure she was the victim of secondhand smoke, but really who hasn’t been?  It turns out that 1 in 5 women who contract lung cancer are what they consider never smokers and 60% of never smokers with lung cancer are women (researchers think that hormones may play a role in this).  That is staggering especially when you stop to think that they never smoked.  In fact doctors haven’t a clue why nonsmokers get lung cancer, but secondhand smoke, exposure to radon (a radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water then seeps into homes through cracks in the foundation) and pollution continue to be the main culprits.

Diagnosing lung cancer is tricky since you can’t feel a tumor growing in them until it is large enough to cause discomfort and you start to feel chest pain, a cough that won’t go away, coughing up blood, wheezing or even hoarseness.  Unfortunately, these symptoms are similar to signs of bronchitis and pneumonia and doctors are more prone to diagnose you for infections like these than to order more tests when you fill out your questionnaire about your health and state you are not a smoker.  That is why it is imperative for you to be proactive about your body and your health, ask lots of questions, if there is a history in your family of cancer (of any type) speak to your doctor about your concerns.  Your sensitivity to harmful particles in the air may be hereditary.  When you breathe in carcinogens they are absorbed into the bloodstream and it’s your liver that is in charge of clearing them out, but if your liver is slow it allows those carcinogens to linger in the bloodstream and do their damage.  If you have an overactive liver, they break down non harmful molecules and turn them into carcinogens, which are sent back into the blood to circulate throughout your body, then if your lung cells absorb them then that is where the cancer will grow.  In a study of more than 100,000 women it was found that the more children a women (never smoker) had the less likely she was to get lung cancer.  It is believed that pregnancy may change a woman’s lung cells making them resistant to cancer.

While there is still so much more research to be done to understand lung cancer and what causes it, there are some things that you can do to protect yourself from lung cancer.  There is no diet or magic pill to prevent lung cancer, but researchers know that certain foods and eating strategies can help to lower your risk, no surprise it seems to be the same for maintaining a healthy lifestyle in general.  Vegetables over vitamins, crucifierous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, kale & cabbage) contain glucosinolates, a type of chemical compound believed to reduce the risk of lung and other cancers.  Even though glucosinolates are available in supplements, the body doesn’t absorb the crucial cancer-fighting compound in pill form as well as it does from food sources.  Get more soy in your diet, the isoflavones (a compound in soy), have been found to slow lung cancer cell growth.  Scientists discovered that people with the most soy in their diet had a 23% lower risk for lung cancer than those with the least.  Drinking tea, in the study those who drank black tea helped to protect nonsmoking women from lung cancer.   Smokers and nonsmokers who drank at least one cup of green tea a day were 5x’s less likely to get the disease than those who didn’t drink any.  Go easy on alcohol, having 3 or more drinks a day increased the risk of lung cancer by 30%.

At the time my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, there was little hope and understanding of the disease (because she had never smoked).  It is nice to know that there is finally research being done and that doctors are aware that the majority of women affected are healthy young women with no history of smoking.  There has also been recent advances in lung cancer medications and therapies which yield better results that the traditional chemotherapy of the past.  There are also several blood and breath tests being developed for early detection and hopefully in the next 5 years there will be one that works to pinpoint the disease accurately.  Also if you are concerned about Radon, you can buy a DIY kit at your local hardware store (or for $15 to $25 at sosradon.org).  If readings are at four picocuries per liter or higher, the EPA recommends that you install a radon reduction system, usually a pipe and fan that vents the vapors to the outside.  Find a certified radon contractor in your area at neha-nrpp.org or nrsb.org.  Don’t forget to alert your doctor who can assess your lung cancer risk.

I hope that this blog has been informative and helpful to you.  If there is something you would like to discuss or would like me to research, please let me know and I would be happy to do so.  In the meantime, be healthy and ride, Vixens!