When researchers in England looked at the effects of certain social changes in the past decade, they discovered an unexpected factor linked to increased deaths from cancer. And they’re not sure why it kills.
They discovered that losing your job puts you at extra risk of dying from cancer.
British researchers found that after a 1 percent increase in unemployment, male deaths from prostate cancer rise significantly. In the study, those increased deaths continued for at least five years after unemployment spiked.
The scientists think that men who get laid off from their jobs probably suffer more from cancer because their eating habits slip, they get less exercise and are more depressed – although nobody really knows which of these behaviors might be to blame.
Of course, extra stress arises when you lose your job. And I think that when you’re under that extra pressure, it becomes even harder to resist the siren song of the big food companies that claim to offer you soothing “comfort food.” And then there are the ads that call on you to eat like a “real man” and stuff yourself with the latest fast food sandwich concoctions.
Although those items masquerade as nutritious food, they’re cooked up in a food lab funded by international conglomerates that are trying to sell cheap items that produce big profit.
So you have to look past the deceptive marketing messages and find the inner strength to reduce the stress of unemployment with more exercise and better nutrition. That’s not easy in the best of times. It may be even harder when you’re out of work.
But it’s worth the effort.
For extra protection, take at least 4,000 IU of vitamin D a day which can drop your risk of many cancers and has been shown to help with your prostate. A study at the Medical University of South Carolina shows that men being treated for prostate cancer who take this amount of vitamin D can keep their cancer from “going ballistic.”
