On World Cancer Day yesterday, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) urged people to help prevent cancer by exercising regularly, controlling their body weight, adopting a healthy diet, getting regular examinations, avoid smoking and chewing betel nuts, and reducing alcohol consumption.
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), which initiated the day held on Feb. 4 annually, said that 8.2 million people die from cancer worldwide every year, of which 4 million are premature (aged 30 to 69 years).
The UICC chose the tagline “We can. I can,” for World Cancer Day 2016 to 2018, to convey the message that everyone — either as individuals or a collective — has the power to make a difference in the fight against cancer.
Citing WHO data, the HPA said that about one-third of cancer deaths are caused by five factors: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity and tobacco and alcohol use.
It suggested that people exercise regularly, starting with playing sports or walking — which is usually not limited to a certain time or space — and try to gradually increase the intensity and frequency of exercise to at least 30 minutes every day.
The administration also recommended a balanced diet based on whole grains alongside high-quality protein, such as fish or nuts, with large amounts of vegetables, fruits, beans and other plant items.
For aid in digestion and controlling blood sugar and cholesterol levels, it suggested foods high in fiber.
Every year, more than 20,000 people in Taiwan die of diseases related to smoking, and overseas studies suggest that 80 percent of men and 50 percent of women who die from lung cancer developed the disease from smoking, the HPA said, adding that people who often consume alcohol, smoke tobacco or chew betel nuts have an especially high risk of esophageal and oral cancer.
Everyone should develop healthy daily habits to prevent cancer and remember to have doctors examinations regularly, the HPA said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching