SEATTLE — Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and around the world, according to the CDC and the WHO.
And every day, people are bombarded with ads for supplements, drugs, costly screenings, and other ways of preventing the disease.
So what are some affordable, easy steps you can take to catch cancer signs early or help prevent it in the first place?
“This was not on my radar,” cancer survivor Stacy Peterson said. “It was not in our family. It was not something that I thought I would have to look out for, ever.”
Peterson showed KIRO 7 the tattoo on her arm that reads, “This too shall pass.”
“That is my mom’s handwriting,” she said. “That’s my husband’s handwriting with the date of my diagnosis.”
The mantra is something she got from her mother.
“Yeah, so I’m going cry,” she said. “It’s a saying that help get me through cancer.”
Peterson’s cancer journey started with a routine screening.
“It was actually my first ever mammogram,” she said. “My husband had wanted me to get a mammogram and I thought, ‘Oh, I guess I’ll do that. I’m of age.’ They say that 40 is the age to start your mammograms and I was 43.”
Several appointments and surgeries later, they discovered she had cancer in both of her breasts and in more than a dozen lymph nodes.
“I was devastated,” Peterson said. “I was shocked. I was mad.”
As she underwent rounds of chemo and radiation, Peterson started making major changes, from food to gut support to drinking.
“I gave up all alcohol immediately,” she said.
She started reading food labels closely and changing what her family ate for dinner.
“If we can’t pronounce the words, we try not to eat it,” she said. “My husband’s a hunter-fisherman, so we get a lot of fresh food from the earth, and we try to cook as clean as we can. I just try to get as much protein and organic food as possible… I like to have lots of colors on our plates.”
The idea of eating all the colors of the rainbow is something Dr. Heather Greenlee emphasized when KIRO 7 met her in Fred Hutch Cancer Care’s Human Nutrition Lab.
Greenlee is a public health researcher and naturopathic physician at Fred Hutch who focuses on areas including cancer prevention and control.
“Phytonutrients are the chemicals within the plant... They are packed with a lot of anti-cancer properties,” Greenlee said. “Each color really represents a different phytonutrient.”
But she pointed out that getting too much of a nutrient from some dietary supplements can cause harm.
“When you’re taking a dietary supplement, there can be very, very high concentrations of specific ingredients or specific nutrients, and that can cause problems sometimes,” she said. “So, for example, some studies have shown that eating high concentrations of beta-carotene or taking a diet supplement with high concentration of beta carotene can actually increase the risk for some cancers.”
Fiber is an exception.
“We don’t recommend a lot of dietary supplements, but fiber supplements can be useful,” she said.
Fermented foods like yogurt and kimchi can also be useful, though Greenlee cautions against products that advertise probiotics but also contain a lot of sugar.
Greenlee showed KIRO 7 how to cook one of the more than 1,100 free, healthy recipes on Fred Hutch’s Cook For Your Life website.
And it turns out what you’re drinking with that food can make a big difference, too.
“For breast cancer, any level of alcohol intake is actually… It’s a risk factor,” Dr. Ulrike Peters said.
Peters is a molecular and genetic epidemiologist and Associate Director of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch Cancer Care Center.
She said alcohol has also been linked to esophageal and colorectal cancer, the latter of which is on the rise among people under 50.
In fact, she built a consortium to study the disease.
“Through that effort, we have identified more than 250 genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer,” Peters said. “They all have a weak effect, but if we add them all together… There are individuals who are carrying a lot of them, so they have a high polygenic risk score and high risk for colorectal cancer.”
You can take a free screening right now via FredHutch.
If you’ve done genetic testing with companies like Ancestry.com or 23andMe, you can upload your genetic data or just answer the lifestyle questionnaire.
Peters said it’s anonymous and it doesn’t require an email address.
And what about those costly screenings you may have seen advertised?
“It’s best to talk to your provider, your health care provider, to see if you are at higher risk,” Peters said.
Genetics and food aren’t the only things that impact your cancer risk.
“Air pollution can be very harmful to your health,” Dr. Trang VoPham said.
VoPham is an epidemiologist in the Public Health Department Sciences Division at Fred Hutch. She studies environmental risk factors like wildfire smoke, car exhaust, and other pollutants. Studies show they can cause lung and liver cancer, VoPham said.
“If you’re going to go out for a run, what are you thinking about in terms of ensuring that that’s as healthy as possible?” reporter Linzi Sheldon asked.
“So, the air quality index is a great way to kind of time when you might want to do outdoor activities,” she said. “It’s freely available on different apps… also, I run outside, and so what I will do is I will avoid highly trafficked areas.”
VoPham said avoiding busy roads can make a big difference. She said you can also reduce the impacts of wildfire smoke with an N95 mask and air purifier.
“Do you do anything different when we have a little smoke in the air?” Sheldon asked Peterson.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “I try to stay in the house.”
For Peterson, everything makes a difference to help ensure she’s here decades more for her husband and children.
“I’m in remission,” she said. “I just got a test result back yesterday that said no cancer, and I plan to stay there.”