The cost of cancer, the benefits of prevention
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Most recently, the news coverage has increasingly focused on the rising cost of health care—with particular emphasis on cancer treatment.
In this issue of Quest, we examine the cost of cancer treatment. Himanee Gupta-Carlson’s article explores cancer’s escalating bills and social costs and explains why treating cancer has become so expensive to society.
The article also underscores why continued research, early detection and prevention can help stem the rising costs of cancer. Keeping that in mind, we have included two articles in this issue that deal with prevention science, a field in which the Hutchinson Center has been a world leader for three decades.
Colleen Steelquist’s interview with Dr. Alan Kristal, a nutritional epidemiologist in our Cancer Prevention Program, reveals his expert view that a healthy diet is one that involves balance, not one that treats food as medicine. While researchers have found strong associations between diet and heart disease, the same direct links have not been proven for cancer. But what is good for your heart is also likely to be good for protecting you against cancer.
Research has made one thing certain: Obesity increases the risk of getting cancer and many other diseases. A balanced diet offers good protection to keep obesity at bay, and when coupled with exercise, creates a formidable prevention weapon.
Dr. Anne McTiernan, a cancer prevention researcher, has made exercise her main area of study. Her lab was the first to look specifically at the effects of increased physical activity and weight loss on cancer risk.
Because of her groundbreaking work, McTiernan was asked to join a federal scientific advisory committee to develop the nation’s first guidelines on physical activity (the report was published in October and you can see it at www.health.gov/paguidelines).
The work of our scientists ensures that we remain a leader in cancer research. And with your financial support, their critical work will continue to improve the health of the world.
