Uncle Zhang, 55 years old this year, inexplicably suffered from abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence at the end of last year.
As time went on, Uncle Zhang's condition became more and more serious, and he began to have blood in his stool frequently, and taking medicine did not work. Seeing this, his wife urged him to go to the doctor with him. After examination, Uncle Zhang was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and needed to be hospitalized for treatment, and after a week of treatment, Uncle Zhang's condition improved and he was discharged.
But a few days after returning home, the symptoms on his body soon returned, and Uncle Zhang lost a lot of weight, so his family quickly took him to a big hospital for examination, and the doctor suspected that the lesions in the intestine had become cancerous, and recommended immediate surgery.
The postoperative pathological results confirmed the doctor's suspicions, but this situation surprised Uncle Zhang's family, but it was just a small intestinal inflammation, how could it develop into cancer?
1. Harvard Medical School: People who often have inflammation are more likely to develop cancer?
In January 2024, the Dana-Farber Cancer Research Center, a cancer specialist hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School, published an article on its official website, pointing out that people with long-term inflammation will have an increased risk of cancer in some cases.
Inflammation refers to the body's defense response to external mechanisms, and moderate inflammation is a normal physiological response to resist the invasion of external pathogens and clean up necrotic tissues in the body, which is beneficial to health.
Tong Yili, the attending physician of the Department of General Medicine of East China Hospital, published an article introducing that inflammation can be divided into acute inflammation and chronic inflammation, acute inflammation is mostly caused by viruses, external bacteria and other pathogens, which generally come and go quickly, and when the pathogen is eliminated, the acute inflammation will subside. Chronic inflammation is a long-term lasting damage that underlies many chronic diseases.
In recent years, more and more studies have found that chronic inflammation is strongly related to cancer. According to a report in The Lancet Oncology, about one-sixth of all cancers worldwide are caused by bacterial or viral infections.
After the occurrence of chronic inflammation, the body will repeatedly damage and repair, and repair and regeneration require cell proliferation, which requires cell division. The more cells divide, the greater the chance of DNA replication errors, which increases the risk of cancer cells and malignant tumors.
When the body shows the following 6 manifestations, it means that there is inflammation in your body, so be careful:
Fatigue and fatigue: Chronic inflammation can act on the nerve centers, affecting people's daily mental state, and even when they get enough sleep, they often feel tired and tired.
Depressed mood: Studies have found that patients with depressed heart disease have higher markers of inflammation levels in their bodies. Even a slight increase in chronic inflammation can increase the risk of depression.
Old stomach pain: intestinal inflammation can easily cause irritable bowel syndrome, which in turn causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and other symptoms, and there will be unexplained abdominal pain in daily life.
Skin and respiratory symptoms: including rhinitis, urticaria, wheezing, and atopic skin inflammation.
Unexplained pain in the whole body: limb pain, shoulder and neck pain, headache and hip pain for no reason, but the problem cannot be found in orthopedics, gastroenterology and other departments.
Frequent colds: Chronic inflammation can lead to the imbalance of the immune system in the body, and the ability to resist germs will be significantly reduced.
2. These 5 common inflammations are easy to drag into cancer, so "reduce inflammation" as soon as possible
Wang Bojun, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University School of Medicine, said that chronic inflammation is a long-term disease that can develop gradually over a period of months to years. Some inflammation can keep the body at a low level of inflammation for a long time, which in turn increases the risk of many types of cancer.
In particular, the following 5 types of chronic inflammation are prone to cancer, and if they are detected, aggressive treatment is recommended.
1. Enteritis - intestinal cancer
Intestinal inflammation can easily cause mucosal bulging-like lesions, which are often referred to as polyps and adenomas, among which adenomas have a higher risk of becoming cancerous. However, as long as it is removed in time, it can prevent it from developing into cancer.
2. Gastritis - gastric cancer
Non-atrophic gastritis can evolve into chronic atrophic gastritis without timely intervention, and recurrent inflammation of the stomach will cause intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and eventually cancer.
3. Hepatitis - liver cancer
The probability of hepatitis evolving into liver cancer is about 0.3%, and most liver cancer patients have no obvious symptoms in the early stage, because the liver is an organ without pain, and by the time the symptoms are obvious, the disease has often developed to the middle and advanced stages. Patients with hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis, etc., must be followed up regularly and treated actively.
4. Pancreatitis - pancreatic cancer
More than 8 percent of pancreatic cancer patients have a history of pancreatitis, and patients with acute pancreatitis do not actively intervene, so that repeated episodes of inflammation can easily develop into chronic pancreatitis, increasing the risk of pancreatic cancer.
5. Cervicitis - cervical cancer
Cervicitis occurs in women who have damaged the cervix during childbirth, miscarriage, and surgery, and is infected due to the invasion of pathogens. Not all patients with cervicitis will develop cancer, but if they are patients with HPV infection, especially women with HPV 16 and 18, they must be highly vigilant.
3. Do 4 things to reduce inflammation for your body
The occurrence of inflammation is related to endogenous and exogenous factors, the former is a complex mechanism that is difficult to change. However, inflammation can be prevented and regulated from exogenous factors, and doing these few things well in life can effectively help fight inflammation!
1. Reasonable diet
According to the Expert Consensus on Anti-inflammatory Diet for Cancer Prevention, diet has anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory properties, and chronic inflammation caused by unreasonable diet is closely related to cancer.
Eat less of 4 types of pro-inflammatory foods
- Delicate carbohydrates: such as white rice, white noodles, fritters, cakes, biscuits, desserts, etc.;
- Fried/high-fat foods: such as fried chicken, hamburgers, lard, butter, etc., a large amount of intake will cause the body to produce a pro-inflammatory response, increasing the risk of hyperlipidemia, obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and other diseases.
- Alcohol: 3.6% of tumors worldwide are related to alcohol consumption, and the correlation is stronger in men, with liver cancer and esophageal cancer accounting for the highest proportion.
- Red/processed meat: Excessive intake of pork, beef and mutton, bacon, ham, bacon, and other foods is associated with a risk of colorectal, kidney, and lung cancer.
Eat more of 4 anti-inflammatory foods
- Whole grains/beans: such as oats, black rice, red mung beans, kidney beans, buckwheat, etc.
- Fruits: such as oranges, grapefruits, cherries, cherry tomatoes, etc., among which berry fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. are the most recommended.
- Vegetables: A variety of dark green vegetables, such as carrots, spinach, kelp, and cruciferous vegetables, including Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.
- Spices: such as cinnamon, star anise, black pepper, etc., all have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and can be added appropriately during cooking every day.
2. Keep exercising
Exercise can reduce the level of inflammatory factors in the body, it is recommended to get up and move for 5 minutes every 1 hour of sitting, and maintain at least 150 minutes of exercise every week, and each exercise is not less than 30 minutes. There are many sports that can be done, such as jogging, walking, and cycling.
3. Get enough sleep
Sleep is very important for the recovery of immune system function, it is recommended to go to bed before 11 o'clock every day to ensure 7~8 hours of sleep.
4. Learn to decompress
Being in a state of stress for a long time can reduce the function of the immune system and increase the incidence of inflammation. It is recommended to maintain an optimistic and positive attitude in daily life, and adjust in time when there is a lot of pressure.
Inflammation has a great impact on health, and it is necessary to pay enough attention to this and actively intervene and treat it to avoid further development of inflammation and even cancer.
Resources:
[1] "One in six cancers is caused by "inflammation"! 12 "anti-inflammatory foods", many people don't eat it right! 》. Health Times 2023-06-13
[2] "From "Inflammation" to "Cancer" Only Three Steps! Doctor: 5 common inflammations should be "eliminated" as soon as possible! 》. Health Times 2023-09-20
[3] ""Inflammation" is the body protecting you, but there is a type of inflammation that is dangerous. Life Times 2024-02-22
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