2023-06-24 03:20:00
“Something is not being done right. Individually and as a society”, gasps Emilia Gómez Pardo, a molecular biologist by training and scientific disseminator by profession. Diseases related to lifestyle are growing and the future looks bleak, predicts the expert (Zaragoza, 62 years old): an obesity epidemic is spreading across the planet in children and adults and cancer is growing steadily at ever increasing ages earlier.
We must reverse bad habits, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, and stop poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, stress and poor sleep that makes the street sick, warns Gómez Pardo, who is a doctor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and has Master’s in Nutrition and Health. “Primum non nocere”, she repeats herself like a mantra in a videoconference interview with EL PAÍS. First, do no harm. The ancient principle that set the unbreakable lines of medicine is the starting thread from which this popularizer and health adviser pulls in her book More life, less cancer (Practical Harp, 2023) to help prevent one of the most devastating diseases: cancer.
In an exercise in pedagogy and dissemination of the most complex science, Gómez Pardo puts the available evidence on prevention black on white. Without contemplation, he dismantles myths and beliefs regarding cancer and leaves on the table the tools that can help overcome this disease. Minimizing the risks is in the hands of each one, he resolves: “0% blame, 100% responsibility”. Spoiler alert: there are no magic recipes.
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Ask. To what extent can cancer be avoided?
Answer. Cancer is a complex disease and there are many issues that influence it. First, individual characteristics that we have no control over, such as age, gender, and genetics. Then, there is the lifestyle, which is what we can handle the most, and the environmental factors, which there are some that we can control, such as ultraviolet radiation or risky sexual practices. When we take into account all the variables that we can manipulate, lifestyle and environmental factors, science says that up to 50% might be avoided. When we take out environmental factors and just talk regarding lifestyle, then it’s 30% or 40%. [los que se podrían evitar]. In the end, these are figures so compelling in themselves that, even considering the lowest (30%), and without taking into account the increase in incidence, which in Spain is outrageous, we are talking regarding 84,000 cancers a year that might be avoid. In 10 years, 840,000, almost a million.
Q. You propose a “polypill without side effects” and backed by science to prevent cancer. What does it consist of?
A. The polypill has a synergistic effect, but each of the elements of the pill has its own positive action. In the case of a lifestyle, each of the parts, such as diet or physical activity, have their positive effect. Being of normal weight and avoiding risk behaviors, such as alcohol consumption or smoking, also have positive effects. Each one, and independently of the others, has a lot of impact on health, but when everything is done completely, the effect is as clear as that we can live 10 more years free of disease. In addition, if we focus on cancer, with this polypill we manage to reduce 40% [de los tumores]. But it is that the same polypill reduces cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, gastrointestinal diseases, depression… What this polypill does is protect health, which is our most precious asset.
Q. This strategy is not new. People know that smoking is bad and exercising is good, but why don’t they listen to these recommendations?
A. There are many variables. The first is the human condition in which we all feel invulnerable, that magical thought of “it won’t happen to me”. Also, from a physiological point of view, I believe that people are truly unaware of the tremendous impact, for better or for worse, of any of our actions. I don’t think people are aware that when they choose to eat a burger with ultra-processed fries instead of a vegetable dish, they are impacting their health. Every meal is important. Every time you don’t get up from your chair you are deciding what to do with your life. And then, on the other hand, we live in an environment that does not favor anything: we do not have time, there are ultra-processed foods everywhere, cheap and that are presented as problem solvers…
“We expect an unparalleled crisis: overweight children can become sick adults”
Q. You say in the book that the greatest threat to health is ourselves and our decisions. Are we doing it that badly?
A. Very bad. But no blame, you can’t blame the people, but the system. We do it very badly because nobody teaches us to do it well. In the health survey, 70% of people say that they eat a healthy diet, but the reality is very stubborn: you can say what you want, but the data is what it is and in Spain there are almost 300,000 new cancers every year and is increasing. All lifestyle related diseases are only increasing, so we are doing something wrong individually and as a society.
Q. You say that our health has become “a commercial product.” How are the responsibilities of each one and of the industry distributed?
A. Health is a shared responsibility, but in the end, a tobacco company can advertise as it wants, but the ultimate act of taking or not taking the cigarette is an individual decision. But, what cannot be allowed is to confuse the person: whoever decides to take a cigarette, eat something or remain seated in a chair, must be very aware of the impact, they cannot be deceived. They cannot sell us false illusions, we must awaken the critical spirit.
Q. Is there only one good lifestyle? More and more options are emerging that promise more and better health.
R. There is one, but it can be perfectly applied with its variations to culture, age, situation and tastes, which are very important. A lifestyle has to be compatible with your tastes, otherwise it is not sustainable over time. But there is only one: first, avoid risk behaviors, if you stop hurting yourself, you already have a long way to go; and then, let’s use the way of living to our advantage: the lifestyle is a protective shield and there is only a healthy diet and there is only one active way of life, which is to move.
Emilia Gómez Pardo, scientific disseminator and author of the book ‘More life, less cancer’, at her home in Madrid.Santi Burgos
Q. You make a declaration of intent: this book is regarding science, not myths or beliefs. Is there much intrusive in cancer prevention?
R. There is a lot of intruder in everything that has to do with health. Too many. Since we all have bodies, we all know, and since health is a business, we have started to get worse. Big claims must be supported by big evidence.
Q. How do those magic wands that are promised in networks affect, for example, the results in health?
R. It is human to hold on to magical thinking, but you also have to fight once morest that. Health is something that works 24 hours a day and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, miraculous. These magical recipes ignore the rest: health is drinking a glass of water with three drops of lemon at seven in the morning, and what regarding the rest? Health is not that, it is doing everything moderately well with constancy. There is no food that by itself has beneficial effects.
Q. The age of appearance of some tumors is coming forward. Is it because of bad habits?
A. Bad habits, lifestyle and environmental conditions. For the first time in history, life expectancy is decreasing.
Q. Among bad habits, is tobacco the number one public enemy?
A. Public enemy number one. When we talk regarding cancer, he is responsible for 33% of them and not just lung. If smoking were to be stopped, bladder cancer would be a rare disease. In cancer, it is also necessary to distinguish between a cause, such as tobacco, which is the main cause, and an association: food has to do with one in three cancers, not because it is a cause, but it has a lot to say in the development of the process. oncology.
Reaching adolescence with extra kilos is a gateway to a lot of pathologies”
Q. Regarding nutrition, obesity is growing all over the world, also at very early ages. What are you waiting for?
R. We expect a huge and tremendous crisis, unparalleled. Overweight children can end up being sick adults because these conditions carry over throughout life. Entering adolescence with extra kilos is a gateway to a lot of pathologies. Our children have cholesterol, hypertension… it’s crazy!
Q. Speaking of nutrition, where do we start?
A. It is as easy to say as it is difficult to do. It has to be a mostly vegetable diet, let’s focus positively on the consumption of fruits and vegetables and we will be displacing harmful foods. If we do it from the restriction, it is clear that it does not work because it is enough that they prohibit us, for us to feel like it. Focus, to begin with, on the vegetable you want, the one you like, and propose to comply with the recommendation for vegetables and fruits.
Q. There are many dietary supplements that promise to help cover certain nutrients. Is this taking a shortcut on the road to healthy eating? Does it take you to the same place?
R. It is absolutely counterproductive. It is an industry strategy. We have become disconnected from the act of eating, which is what gives the body nutrients. The body is a complex machine, there can be no simple solution. We have been on earth for thousands of years and there have never been these supplements: nutrients are eaten through food and when you have a healthy diet, you do not need any nutrients, unless the doctor detects it.
Q. Regarding exercise, in the book you use popular proverbs: Little bed, little plate and a lot of shoes. What is the slogan you propose?
R. That proverb tells us regarding movement, not regarding going to the gym to do weights, which also, or going to the gym to crush ourselves from seven to eight and then the rest of the day, lying down. Active life is moving. You have to move every day and the more you move, the better. If you also exercise, perfect, but it is much more important to identify that the body is designed to move. Those working days that we bring to the majority of the population are an attack on health.
If people stopped smoking, bladder cancer would be a rare disease.”
Q. Regarding alcohol, there is always controversy in the scientific community regarding the alleged benefits of this product, such as its cardioprotective capacity. Does that confuse people? Which is the message?
A. It is so confusing that there are still doctors today who continue to recommend a glass of wine, claiming its beneficial cardiovascular effects, which do not exist, are not such. There is such compelling and proven evidence that alcohol is bad at any dose, that the controversy should have been settled a long time ago. The alcohol recommendation is zero, there is no consumption compatible with health. And in the very supposed case that it was good for cardiovascular health, which it is not, it is that we are not just heart. We are talking regarding a substance that is mutagenic, neurotoxic and addictive. For everything, a low consumption of alcohol is bad.
Q. Are we always in time to change habits?
A. Always. You don’t know how your body has reacted. When we talk regarding cancer, the last variable is chance. It’s never too late, but you have to start, don’t delay it any longer, start today.
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