Prevent Throat Cancer by Quitting Smoking

Quitting smoking is the right step to prevent various types of cancer, including throat cancer. How to do it? Check out the full review below.
Quitting Smoking Can Prevent Throat Cancer
Like most cancers, throat cancer is a potentially deadly disease. For this reason it is important to take various precautions.
If you have a smoking habit, it’s better to quit this bad habit immediately if you don’t want to get cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, smoking can trigger at least 12 types of cancer. One of them is throat cancer. The chemicals contained in cigarettes are carcinogens that can cause cancer.
In fact, in one puff of a cigarette, you can already enter a lot of harmful chemicals and toxins that can trigger the development of cancer cells.
In addition, smoking can also cause a decrease in the immune system. This condition can make the body susceptible to various diseases including cancer. That means the longer you get used to smoking, the more susceptible you are to dangerous diseases such as throat cancer.
Quitting smoking is not easy, especially if you have been doing it for years. Although it is difficult, if you consistently want to quit smoking, chances are that you will succeed.
You can try to reduce the frequency of smoking little by little. Reduce smoking habits from day to day until you can finally stop completely, so that the risk of getting various kinds of dangerous diseases can be suppressed.
Also Read: 10 Causes of Sore Throat When Swallowing and Their Treatment
Other Ways to Lower Your Risk of Throat Cancer
Apart from quitting smoking, there are several other ways you can do to reduce your risk of throat cancer, including:
1. Avoiding Alcoholic Beverages
The habit of consuming alcoholic beverages can also cause cancer. This is caused by the ethanol compound in alcohol which can trigger damage to DNA and eventually cause the development of cancer and tumors in various parts of the body, including the throat.
The risk of getting throat cancer can even increase if it is accompanied by smoking cigarettes. This reason requires you to avoid both.
2. Caring for Dental Health
Make no mistake, caring for dental health does not only maintain the condition of the teeth or prevent bad breath problems. In reality, a problem like gingivitis can lead to the growth of bacteria that can travel up the throat and then destroy healthy cells. This could have an impact on increasing the risk of cancer.
3. Do the HPV Vaccination
One type of virus that can cause cancer is human papillomavirus (HPVs). Exposure to this virus can trigger throat cancer. One way to prevent exposure to this virus is to vaccinate against the HPV.
4. Increase Vegetable and Fruit Intake
The more you eat vegetables and fruit, the stronger your immune system will be to prevent the development of diseases, including throat cancer. In addition, carotenoid compounds in fruits and vegetables are believed to be able to fight cancer.
5. Routine Health Checks
Periodic health checks at least once a year can help detect health problems such as cancer early so they are easier to treat. Do a health check once a year. To make it easy to remember, it’s best to check your health at the beginning or end of the year.
Also Read: 10 Content of Cigarettes that are Harmful to Body Health
Cigarettes with Low Tar Content Make No Difference
Studies have shown that unfiltered cigarettes have a higher tar content than filtered cigarettes. Both of them increase the risk of lung cancer. So, cigarettes labeled low tar or ultralight what is thought to be the safer option is actually wrong.
A study shows, The risk of death from lung cancer is highest in smokers of unfiltered cigarettes with high tar levels. While the risk of death from lung cancer did not differ among cigarette smokers with moderate, low and very low levels of tar.
After knowing the various dangers, from now on you can consider quitting smoking to prevent throat cancer. Hopefully this information is useful, Healthy Friends.
- Anonymous. 2017. Low-tar cigarettes are not a safer choice. https://www.health.harvard.edu/cancer/low-tar-cigarettes-are-not-a-safer-choice. (Accessed March 2, 2023)
- Anonymous. 2022. Throat cancer. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/throat-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20366462. (Accessed March 2, 2023)
- Anonymous. 2021. Laryngeal (larynx) cancer. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/laryngeal-cancer/prevention/. (Accessed March 2, 2023)
- Ranchod, Yamini. 2018. What Is Throat Cancer?. www.healthline.com/health/cancer-throat-or-larynx. (Accessed November 25, 2019).
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