What is cancer?
Meet Lizzy the liver cell
What causes cancer?
How is cancer detected?
How is cancer treated?
Trends in cancer incident in Singapore
ABC glossary of cancer terms

 

 

 

 

 

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ABCs of Cancer
 
What causes cancer?
 

Scientists have not yet pinpointed an exact cause for cancer. There is no one single cause that is responsible for all cancers. However, many factors have been identified that are likely to lead to the development of cancer in the body. These are called "risk factors for cancer" A risk factor is anything that raises a person's chance of getting a disease over a certain period of time.

 
 

The development of cancer is dependent on a number of factors such as age, exposure to carcinogens (cancer causing factor), our diet and lifestyle and our inherited genes. In 90% of cases, the gene mutation is not inherited but due to the exposure to one or more carcinogens in the environment during our lifetime, high fat and low fibre diet and unhealthy habits such as smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol. Some people are more sensitive to risk factors than others. Others may have one or even several risk factors but it does not mean that they will definitely get cancer. However, the more we know about the risk factors, the more we can do to try to protect ourselves and our bodies against increasing our risks of cancer.

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