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Page 32 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com Canc tops the list of health concerns among all Americans according to a survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research. And half of all Americans believe preventing cancer is nearly impossible. While life offers no guarantees, you can brighten your cancer outlook by making simple lifestyle choices. Eat organic fruits and vegetables, exercise, prepare food with olive oil, avoid xenoestrogens, and lower your stress levels. One thing that folks polled across the US get right: 92 percent of us recognize that tobacco use causes cancer. In fact, it causes 85 percent of all lung cancers, which strikes an estimated 169,400 Americans every year. Eschewing cigarettes pays big dividends: smoking is tied to cancers of the bladder, esophagus, mouth, pancreas and throat. And don't let the words "light" or "low-tar" fool you – puffing on light cigs usually results in inhaling carcinogens more deeply. As a cancer culprit, tobacco has plenty of company. Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, is believed to be the second leading cause of lung cancer and particularly harmful to smokers. Air pollution is also a lung cancer promoter. Prolonged breathing of the fine soot particles that drift over urban areas can send these pollutants deep into the lungs and possibly raise your lung cancer risk. A Woman's Biggest Concn Breast cancer is the most common – and most feared – malignancy among women, affecting an estimated 203,500 women this year. Prostate cancer is the most common men-only malignancy, befalling 189,000 men a year. One way for women to lower their risk of breast cancer: cut back on alcoholic drinks. Overindulgence in alcohol may increase your cancer chances since it appears to increase levels of estrogen. Overexposure to this sex hormone is known to be a major breast cancer trigger. Being overweight may also make you more vulnerable to breast cancer. Leading experts recommend that women consume the equivalent of no more than one or two glasses of wine or beer a day. Moderating your consumption may also drop your risk of colon cancer, the third most common cancer in both women and men, and one particularly tied to diet and exercise. Feeding rBGH, a bovine hormone, to cows to raise their milk production has raised controversy. This chemical elevates levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in cows, and high IGF-1 has been linked to higher rates of both breast and prostate cancer in humans. The use of rBGH by commercial dairies has led many people to buy organic milk. Esogen From The Envonment? Hormonal problems linked to cancer may result from environmental pollutants such as pesticides that are believed to have estrogen-like effects in the body. C a n c e r O u t l o o k