Cancer has been a plague on humanity for a long time and now films about it attempt to highlight the risk every person on the planet faces from this disease; whilst it still continues to kill people, it is not always the death sentence it once was. When you think about the impact that a cure would bring to this global problem it sends a shudder through your spine. The reasons cancer is triggered in the body are only theories as it can be caused by many things.

There are theories that we all have it and it just takes something to start it off, but what is cancer? Well, it is a disease that's characterized by a large number of cells that continue to grow and divide; they invade and destroy adjacent tissues and may even spread to other anatomical sites through a process called metastasis.

Benign tumors do not normally grow larger, metastasize or threaten the body and organs like malignant (cancerous) tumors do although it is possible for a malignant tumor to have started out as benign. It causes more deaths per population than any other illness and the older you get the more prone you are to contracting the disease; thirteen percent of people die from one of it's many strains every year around the world. Cancer is an abnormality in the body's cells and can be caused by a number of agents including carcinogens or poisons such as smoke, infectious agents or radiation.

The cause can also be the responsibility of faulty DNA replication or a genetic trait inherited from parents which means a person can be born with them. However this does not mean you will contract it as the relationship between carcinogens and an individual's genetic makeup is a complex one.

Cancer is one of the top ten diseases that are researched regularly throughout the world and the truth is we have learned a great deal from studies performed around the globe. We are always learning more about diseases and how they affect our bodies and minds. We are continually trying to find out why this disease attacks some and not others. By understanding the origins of cancer, perhaps we will be able to avoid contracting it until we come up with a cure.

One of the major causes surrounds food and dietary habits. Your regular diet could be putting you at long term risk from all kinds of diseases. People are generally eating too much of the wrong things such as an excess salt intake, too much saturated fat and certain dairy produce. Studies have shown that there is a connection between dairy produced calcium and prostrate cancer.

Cancer can affect any part of the body from the bones, blood, skin or organs. nowhere is safe from it. The problem is that it can also be insidious and a person may have it for some time before it is diagnosed. Cures for many types have advanced in recent years and are more likely to be successful if the cancer is found in its early stages. All this research is gradually leading towards more effective treatments for cancer and it is not always the terminal disease it used to be.