In 2023, cancer will become the leading cause of death in France, ahead of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, more than 400,000 cases are diagnosed each year and nearly 4 million people are currently living with the disease, according to figures from the National Cancer Institute (InCa). How can you limit your risks? Doctissimo interviewed Dr. Ivan Pourmir, oncologist and researcher at the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris, to find out his habits.
Cancer, a disease that can be of genetic origin
As a preamble, Dr Ivan Pourmir first recalls that certain cancers have a genetic origin. “Some cancers are explained by hereditary factors and unfortunately it is impossible to act on them.
he indicates.
“These people therefore have an increased risk of developing the disease, due to their genetic heritage. We will therefore not necessarily be able to prevent their appearance, but with appropriate monitoring, we can ensure that they are taken care of as soon as possible.“.
In certain special cases, such as for women carrying the BRCA 1 or 2 gene, the risk of the disease appearing can be removed by a preventive operation. This is the case of Angelina Jolie for example or Alice Detollenaere, who chose preventive mastectomy.
For other cancers, environmental factors are involved
The other risk factors are what we call environmental factors, adds our expert. “There are many of them and you can be exposed to them depending on your job, for example. For my part, as part of the research I carry out, I handle chemicals classified as carcinogenic. This allows us to induce cancers in the mice we study. Adequate protection is therefore necessary to handle these substances.“.
Eat organic, avoid exposure to the sun… What are our specialist’s other habits?
But beyond his professional exposure, what are the other daily factors that Dr. Pourmir avoids? “There are many other environmental factors that may increase the risk of developing cancer, with varying degrees of evidence.” specifies the doctor. “Tobacco causes cancer, the evidence is indisputable: so I don’t smoke”. For the rest, everything is a question of balance, according to Ivan Pourmir and this is specific to each person. In his daily life, he implemented the following habits:
- Limit your alcohol consumption. As a reminder, the recommendations encourage limiting yourself to one drink per day for women, two for men and not every day;
- Do sports very regularly. “I do it because I love it and it keeps me in shape. But based on the current state of knowledge, the level of proof is lower than smoking or exposure to asbestos, for example.” he nuances;
- Adopt an organic diet. “Pesticides, particularly glyphosate, increase the risk of cancer. For certain products, I favor those from organic farming. But once again, it’s all a question of balance: it must be possible, without straining your budget. We can therefore choose among the foods consumed which we will favor as being from organic farming, fruits in particular and wheat products, such as flour or pasta.” ;
- Do not expose yourself to the sun. “I don’t particularly like being out in the sun. This makes up for the fact that I don’t like to wear sunscreen either. But again, this is just me, other people may place their cursor differently.” he explains. Generally speaking, it is important not to expose yourself to the hottest hours of the day and to protect your skin with an SPF 50 sunscreen.
- Maintain a healthy lifestyle. “The links between the nervous system, psyche and immune system are still little explored. But this avenue seems interesting to me to study. There is a strong interaction between these three systems and they can have important effects on the occurrence of cancers. But in today’s world, simply telling a person not to stress because it’s bad for them risks making them more stressed. Let us therefore remain cautious about what we can recommend or not, to protect ourselves from the disease.” he concludes.
