제 5 호 A Disease that You May Get: Cancer
Kicker: LIFE (CANCER)
A Disease that You May Get: Cancer
An Increased Incidence of Cancer in 20s and the Link between Students at Sangmyung University
by Ju-eun Yeon/Editor
What comes to your mind first when you hear of a disease called cancer? If you thought of an old man lying in a hospital bed, you were half right. Recently, there has been an article suggesting that the incidence of cancer in 20s’ people has increased. Therefore, this article will look at the incidence of cancer in 20s and the lifestyle of SMU students. Finally, I will introduce vaccines related to cancer and government policy.
Cause of Cancer Cells in Your Body
▲ The image of cancer cell
Academically speaking, a mutation in the genes of normal cells causes normal cells to turn into cancer cells and as their number increases, they develop cancer. The unit that makes up the human body is called cells. Normal cells repeat outbreak, division, and multiplication and die at the end of a certain life. However, normal cells turn into mutant cells due to chemical, ultraviolet or virus infections; then we call these cancer cells. Cancer cells are occurring in the human body every day from hundreds to thousands. Why do thousands of cancer cells form? The reason is that one of the main characteristics of cancer cells is unlimited proliferation. Cancer cells may have formed in your body even now. Do not worry! If you have a healthy body, cancer cells will die for immune cells(T lymphocyte, NK cells) and your body will remain healthy. However, if immune function is reduced, cancer cells that multiply away from immune cells appear. This is so-called cancer when cancer cells multiply repeatedly. Therefore, the underlying cause of cancer is the breakdown of the balance of immune cells that kill cancer cells.
The Major Cancer in 20s and the Lifestyle Habit of SMU Students
▲ Rate of increase and decrease over the last five years
The rate of cancer among people in their 20s has been increasing recently. According to the Health Insurance Review Assessment, the number of patients in 20s diagnosed with five major cancers (stomach cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer) rose from 3,621 in 2014 to 21,741 in 2018. The growth rate is 44.5%. the number of cervical cancer patients in 20s rose 65.1% to 13,284 in 2018 from 2,041 in 2014, colorectal cancer rose 30.3% to 486 from 373 over the same period.
Although genes have some effect on cancer incidence, most of the factors are external factors. That is, they are greatly affected by behavioral factors such as food intake, smoking, and active lifestyles. Cancer is no longer someone else’s business. It is close to our lives. Therefore, it is necessary to compare external factors that cause cancer with the lifestyle habits of SMU students through a survey. The survey was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 15, with a total of 58 SMU students participating. If you are a reader who did not participate in this survey, then let’s check these questions.
Q1) How many midnight snacks do you eat a week?
According to the survey, about two to three times (50%), followed by not more than once (39.7%), about four to five (8.6%), and no response (1.7%). I recommend you not to eat a midnight snack as much as possible. When you fall asleep within one to two hours after eating a midnight snack, the undigested food passes over to the large intestine and makes a decomposing substance with intestinal bacteria. At this time, the increased number of harmful bacteria penetrates in the blood and makes carcinogens.
Q2) How much fiber do you take a week?
About two to three times a week accounted for the most with 37.9%, followed by about four to five times with 32.8%. The amount of fiber consumed by SMU students is extremely low. It is recommended that you eat 200 grams of vegetables and fruits a day. Eating fiber shortens the amount of time the feces stay in the large intestine, reducing the amount of time that they come into contact with carcinogens.
Q3) How much exercise do you do a week?
According to the survey, there is a result that the SMU students rarely do exercise for one week recording not more than once (56.9%). Cancer cells multiply most actively at 35°C and die when they reach over 39°C. It is important to increase body temperature through exercise since cancer occurs at low body temperatures.
Q4) Do you smoke?
Q4-1) If you answered yes in Q4, how much do you smoke a day?
91.4% said they do not smoke and only 6.9% said yes. Of the 6.9%, 50% said that they smoke not more than once a day and each 25% said that they smoke more than five times and about two to three times. The team led by Lee Ki-hun of Seoul National University said, “just by reducing the number of times you smoke a day, you can reduce the chances of cancer. However, the unchanged strategy to prevent cancer is do not smoke.”
We have looked at the cause of cancer, the major cancer in 20s and the lifestyle habit of SMU Students. Once again, cancer is no longer irrelevant to us. If you have a gene causing cancer or a high level in the survey above, periodic health checkups are essential. The government is implementing a policy to conduct free medical checkups according to birth year. Details can be found here: (https://www.nhis.or.kr/). There are also vaccines to prevent certain kinds of cancer such as cervical cancer. If you have not gotten a vaccine yet, go to a hospital as soon as possible. Finally, remember that it is most important to change external factors, such as improving exercise and eating habits, to prevent cancer.
Sources:
http://www.healthinnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=10111
https://news.joins.com/article/23596576
http://health.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/05/22/2012052201440.html
https://www.greenpio.com/content/01.asp
http://www.kbccc.org/Controls/Main.aspx?d=02&g=HTML&c=0202
http://www.kiseikai.or.jp/meneki/treatment_kr/treatment02.html
http://www.monews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=112140
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/new-cancer-treatment-can-eradicate-tumours-completely-1.3201325
