Thyroid cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped organ located at the base of your neck.
The thyroid gland has a very important role in your body, producing hormones that regulate your body’s metabolism – the process by which your body converts food into energy.
Now, imagine there’s a rule in your body’s manual that says: “If your genes and lifestyle are unhealthy, you could get thyroid cancer.”
Sounds scary, right? But, there’s also good news. A team of scientists from China has discovered that living a healthier lifestyle can help lower the risk of getting this type of cancer, even if your genes increase your chances.
This new information came out in a scientific report on December 12th, published in an online journal called JAMA Network Open.
Meet The Scientists: The Heroes Behind The Study
The team of researchers was led by Xiuming Feng, a scientist from Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, China.
Xiuming and his team wanted to understand how our genes (the stuff inside our bodies that determine how we look and grow) and our lifestyle (the way we live, eat, sleep, and exercise) affect the chances of getting thyroid cancer.
To find out, they studied a large group of people from the U.K. Biobank, a huge database of health information from hundreds of thousands of people.
How Did They Do It? The Steps of The Study
The scientists collected data from 264,956 participants aged between 40 and 69 years.
They then monitored these people over a period of time, which averaged about 11.1 years. During this time, 423 participants were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
To understand the role of genes and lifestyle, scientists created something called a polygenic risk score (PRS). This score helped them figure out who had a higher genetic risk of getting thyroid cancer.
They also categorized people’s lifestyles as either favorable (healthy) or unfavorable (unhealthy), based on their habits like diet, exercise, smoking, and drinking.
What Did They Find? The Results of The Study
The results were fascinating! People with higher polygenic risk scores, meaning they had a higher genetic risk, were more likely to get thyroid cancer.
Also, those with an unfavorable lifestyle were more likely to get the disease.
But here’s the exciting part: those with a higher genetic risk but a healthy lifestyle were less likely to get thyroid cancer compared to those with an unhealthy lifestyle.
In fact, people with both a high genetic risk and an unhealthy lifestyle were at the highest risk of all for getting thyroid cancer.
What Does This Mean For Us? The Conclusions of The Study
The researchers concluded that a healthier lifestyle could lower the risk of thyroid cancer, even for people with a high genetic risk.
That means that taking care of your health – eating nutritious food, exercising regularly, not smoking, and limiting alcohol – could help protect you against thyroid cancer.
This is especially important for those who have a higher genetic risk.
In their own words, “Lifestyle interventions may be beneficial for preventing thyroid cancer, especially in individuals with a high genetic predisposition.”
So, even if you are at high risk due to your genes, there are still things you can do to lower your chances of getting thyroid cancer!
The Takeaway: The Power is in Your Hands
This research is important because it shows us that we have some control over our health. Even if our genes put us at risk for something, our lifestyle can play a big role in protecting us.
So, let’s remember to take care of our bodies, make healthy choices, and live the best life we can! Remember, you have the power to shape your own health story.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that a low-carb diet could increase overall cancer risk, and can vitamin D help prevent or treat cancer.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer and results showing vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
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