The cause of kidney cancer, like other cancers, is not known and may be related to many factors, chief among them being genetic or environmental factors. As a result, there are no particularly effective means of prevention. There are some risk factors that can increase the risk of kidney cancer, so avoiding them can reduce the risk of developing kidney cancer to some extent.
There are three main known risk factors for kidney cancer:
- Smoking
- Obesity
- High blood pressure
Therefore, it may help to reduce the risk of kidney cancer by:
Quitting smoking
If no one smokes, the overall incidence of kidney cancer drops dramatically. Smoking cessation is currently the only effective way to reduce the incidence and mortality of related kidney cancers. It works equally well for other tumors, such as lung, larynx, and bladder cancers.
Rational diet and weight control
A sensible diet and weight control can also reduce the risk of many cancers. Studies in Europe and the United States have found that obesity also raises the risk of kidney cancer in people, and that the high-fat, high-protein diet that most Americans are born with plays an important role in increasing the risk of kidney cancer; in contrast, a high intake of fruits and vegetables reduces this risk.
No studies have confirmed that daily intake of vitamins reduces the risk of kidney cancer, so it is uncertain whether vitamins can play a preventive role.
Control blood pressure
Studies have shown that people with high blood pressure have an increased risk of kidney cancer, possibly because long-term high blood pressure causes kidney damage, causing the kidneys to be more sensitive to associated carcinogens and thus susceptible to kidney cancer.
Therefore, patients with high blood pressure should be actively monitored and controlled to keep their blood pressure at normal levels to reduce the damage to the kidneys.
Although the incidence of kidney cancer in the overall population can be reduced by a healthy lifestyle, the vast majority of sporadic kidney cancers (those without a family history of kidney cancer) are still inevitably going to occur as a natural consequence of an aging population.
In the early 20th century, the average life expectancy was 50 to 60 years, and most people died of other diseases, such as heart disease, infections, or other medical conditions, before they reached cancer age. And now, as we continue to get older and genetic mutations in our bodies from cell division accumulate year after year, our risk of kidney cancer, like other cancers, increases with age.