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American Morning
Paging Dr. Gupta: Preventing Cancer Deaths
Aired June 30, 2003 - 08:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Medical authorities say that if we use the knowledge we have right now, 100,000 cancer cases could be prevented each year, beginning in the year 2015.
Let's page Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN Center now to tell us more about this.
Boy, that's an awful lot of cases.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Heidi. And this is one of those stories that we really should be doing a lot more of.
There's about a million new cases of cancer every year and about 1,500 people die of cancer every year. Those are startling numbers, but even more startling is that there's an incredible gap between what we know as a society and what we practice. And exactly as you said now, Heidi, people are going back to some of the fundamentals.
The Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Science, as well as the American Cancer Society, are getting together today and having a meeting, and they're releasing an executive summary. Here's the headline: 19 percent of all cancer cases could actually be prevented by the year 2015 if people start to use information that we know already.
And you can take a look, 29 percent of cancer deaths also prevented, again, focusing on the fundamentals, fundamentals such as tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and cancer screening. If people used all of that stuff, actually focused on that stuff, again, then you can actually cut down these cancer deaths and rates by quite a bit.
The numbers, just the absolute numbers, as well, 100,000, as you said, cancer cases a year could actually be eliminated and 60,000 cancer deaths. We're not talking about any new drugs, no new treatments here, just focusing on what we know.
So, that meeting is going to occur today. Heidi, we're going to keep an eye on it.
COLLINS: So actively, Sanjay, exactly what can we do right now to prevent cancer?
GUPTA: Well, it's stuff that, you know, we talk about all the time. And I think that there are numbers now to actually back this up. But take a look at some of the things of the most common risk factors. I think we just saw the list there. But, again, tobacco use, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity, poor diet and alcohol use. All of those things contribute to cancer, and most people don't realize it. I guess they sort of know it's bad for your health, but these things actually contribute to cancer.
So, the things you can do obviously, avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy body weight, regular physical activity, and early detection really being the key. And all of these things are linked to various kinds of cancers, but also, Heidi, there are additional health benefits from doing these things as well. A lot of these things on this list that, again, these societies are going to focus on today also reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the risk of stroke as well, those are also big killers as well, diabetes and osteoporosis on the list.
But I think the headline really, Heidi, there are so many things that we already know. This is not new information. But now you have some real numbers to sort of show just what an impact, 20 percent of all cancer rates almost and almost a third of all cancer deaths produced -- decreased if you just follow the fundamentals, as my high school coach used to say.
COLLINS: Yes, and take them seriously. All right, "Paging Dr. Gupta," thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: All right, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 30, 2003 - 08:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Medical authorities say that if we use the knowledge we have right now, 100,000 cancer cases could be prevented each year, beginning in the year 2015.
Let's page Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN Center now to tell us more about this.
Boy, that's an awful lot of cases.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Heidi. And this is one of those stories that we really should be doing a lot more of.
There's about a million new cases of cancer every year and about 1,500 people die of cancer every year. Those are startling numbers, but even more startling is that there's an incredible gap between what we know as a society and what we practice. And exactly as you said now, Heidi, people are going back to some of the fundamentals.
The Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Science, as well as the American Cancer Society, are getting together today and having a meeting, and they're releasing an executive summary. Here's the headline: 19 percent of all cancer cases could actually be prevented by the year 2015 if people start to use information that we know already.
And you can take a look, 29 percent of cancer deaths also prevented, again, focusing on the fundamentals, fundamentals such as tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and cancer screening. If people used all of that stuff, actually focused on that stuff, again, then you can actually cut down these cancer deaths and rates by quite a bit.
The numbers, just the absolute numbers, as well, 100,000, as you said, cancer cases a year could actually be eliminated and 60,000 cancer deaths. We're not talking about any new drugs, no new treatments here, just focusing on what we know.
So, that meeting is going to occur today. Heidi, we're going to keep an eye on it.
COLLINS: So actively, Sanjay, exactly what can we do right now to prevent cancer?
GUPTA: Well, it's stuff that, you know, we talk about all the time. And I think that there are numbers now to actually back this up. But take a look at some of the things of the most common risk factors. I think we just saw the list there. But, again, tobacco use, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity, poor diet and alcohol use. All of those things contribute to cancer, and most people don't realize it. I guess they sort of know it's bad for your health, but these things actually contribute to cancer.
So, the things you can do obviously, avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy body weight, regular physical activity, and early detection really being the key. And all of these things are linked to various kinds of cancers, but also, Heidi, there are additional health benefits from doing these things as well. A lot of these things on this list that, again, these societies are going to focus on today also reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the risk of stroke as well, those are also big killers as well, diabetes and osteoporosis on the list.
But I think the headline really, Heidi, there are so many things that we already know. This is not new information. But now you have some real numbers to sort of show just what an impact, 20 percent of all cancer rates almost and almost a third of all cancer deaths produced -- decreased if you just follow the fundamentals, as my high school coach used to say.
COLLINS: Yes, and take them seriously. All right, "Paging Dr. Gupta," thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: All right, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
