Find out more about some of the surprising new ways to prevent cancer.

Doing the Housework? Hold Your Breath

Scary new research suggests that cleaning your home and doing the washing using conventional household products can significantly increase your risk of cancer and other serious illnesses.

That’s because toxic chemicals are routinely used in everyday items such as washing powder, surface sprays, dishwasher tablets and even children's nappies. After cleaning, the air inside a home can be up to five times more polluted than air outside because of the toxic vapour.

More than 100 chemicals in the home are linked to cancers, plus they can cause allergies, birth defects, headaches, psychotic illness, skin reactions, chronic fatigue, joint pain, dizziness, loss of sleep, depression and asthma,. That’s why women who stay at home, such as young mums, are an incredible 55% more likely to contract cancer, according to new research from Green Face.

To minimise your risk, open windows while cleaning and avoid breathing in or coming into contact with cleaning materials. Read more Here.

Eat Breakfast

Strange but true: skipping breakfast and snacking on sugary and fatty foods could be increasing your cancer risk.

Most people don’t know that skipping breakfast is one of the biggest causes of obesity – or that being overweight increases your risk for a number of cancers, according to Cancer Research UK.

In fact, experts say about a quarter of cancer deaths are caused by unhealthy diets and obesity. To read more, Click Here.

Use the Contraceptive Coil

Turns out the contraceptive coil, which releases hormones as a form of birth control, can also stop women from developing womb cancer – known as endometrial cancer.

The intra uterine system (IUS) or coil is inserted into the womb and releases the hormone progesterone. A side effect, however, is that it reduces the thickness of the wall of the womb, reducing womb cancer risk, according to Cancer Research UK.

Endometrial cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women in the UK, with most cases being diagnosed after the menopause. And while two per cent of British women will develop endometrial cancer, the rate rises to 60 per cent for those women with an inherited risk.

Now, scientists think the coil could be a viable prevention option for women with this huge risk, many of whom might otherwise opt for a hysterectomy. To read more, Click Here.

Keep Your Gums Healthy

People with a history of gum disease have a 14% higher risk of cancer. Scientists say gum infections could be a sign that a person’s immune system is susceptible to cancer – or they could even directly cause cancer.

They found that having gum disease – or having had it in the past – increases your risk of cancer of the lung, kidney, pancreas and white blood cells. Even among people who had never smoked, gum disease was associated with a 21% increase in overall cancer risk, and a 35% increased risk of blood cancers. To find out more, Click Here.

Get Your Daily Vitamin D Fix

Scientists say there is a clear link between a Vitamin D deficiency and breast and colorectal cancer.

You can stock up on vitamin D by eating foods like fish, eggs, mushrooms, milk, soy and fortified foods like breakfast cereals, and from vitamin supplements.

It’s also available from sunlight, but experts don’t advise this route, saying that the potential benefits have to be weighed against the harmful skin-cancer causing effects of the sun’s rays. To read more, Click Here.

Get the New STI Jab

A new vaccine that protects against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) – and the cervical cancer it causes – is now available on the NHS.

HPV, also known as genital warts, is transmitted through sex, including oral, anal and foreplay, and usually results in lumps, bumps or cauliflower-shapes around the genital area. And besides the uncomfortableness and embarrassment, some types of HPV cause cervical cancer, or if you have anal sex, rectal and anal cancer.

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo says the vaccine could save 400 000 lives a year by immunising girls against the future risk of cancer. To read more about the vaccine, Click Here.

Have Kids

Women who have had children are 15 times less likely to get bladder cancer. It’s the missing piece of information that has long puzzled doctors and scientists, who couldn’t understand why bladder cancer, one of the most common cancers, affects three times as many men as women.

It is claimed that pregnancy confers significant protection against bladder cancer – and it could mean that scientists could use the hormones associated with pregnancy to fight bladder cancer. Read more here: Pregnancy Could Help Prevent Bladder Cancer

Hit the Gym

Less than half of people in the UK know they can reduce their cancer risk by being physically active. Yet there is convincing evidence that regular physical activity reduces the risk of several types of cancer, including bowel cancer, post-menopausal breast cancer and endometrial (womb) cancer, says the World Cancer Research Fund.

Plus people who are physically active are also less likely to become overweight, and there is convincing evidence that excess body fat is a cause of many other types of cancer.

Cancer experts recommend that people should aim to be physically active for at least half an hour a day, and as fitness improves, aim to eventually exercise moderately for an hour a day. You do not have to do it all in one go – it’s the total amount of time you are active throughout the course of the day that counts.

Other “well known” ways to prevent cancer that many people don’t know about: eating a healthy balanced diet, avoiding processed meats and cutting down on alcohol.

Get the Prostate Cancer Vaccine

Scientists have finally done what was thought to be impossible and developed a new prostate cancer vaccine, which could give hope to men with prostate cancer by boosting their body’s ability to fight the disease.

In the UK, around 25,000 new cases of prostate cancer are discovered every year – now, the new vaccine helps the body’s immune system to find and destroy prostate cancer cells.

It could help people with prostate cancer live much longer, healthier lives. To read more, Click Here

Foods to fight cancer: to find out how you can cut your cancer risk by eating antioxidant-rich foods that prevent cancer, Click Here.