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RAISING YOUR RISK LIGHTING UP. Smoking cigarettes reigns as the king of

cancer-causing agents. Because the carcinogens in tobaccoare absorbed by the blood and excreted as waste,smoking is also a major cause of cancers of thestomach, kidney and bladder, among others.The good news: Quitting for ten years can cutyour risk in half, research shows.

PACKING ON THE POUNDS. Beingobese increases your chances of developingcancer, says Harold Freeman, M.D., medical director of the Ralph Lauren Center for CancerCare and Prevention in Harlem, New York. Here’swhy there’s a connection: Body fat produces and storesestrogen, the female hormone that can promote cell growthin tumors. African-American women are especially vulnera-ble because a staggering 77 percent of us are considered to beoverweight. And it should also be noted that excess body fatmight also make it harder to detect tumors.

SIPPING ONE TOO MANY. Some studiessuggest heavy drinking can increase a woman’srisk for breast cancer. If you have more than onealcoholic beverage a day, each subsequent drinkcould increase your risk by 9 percent, accordingto a 2006 report by the Mayo Clinic. This means athree-drink-a-day habit could raise your likeli-hood of developing breast cancer by 18 percent.

SKIPPING SCREENINGS. Not seeing yourgynecologist annually inhibits her from spot-ting the human papillomavirus (HPV), cervicalcancer’s precursor. Pap and HPV tests can de-tect changes in your cervical cells long beforethe cancer actually develops. Then you and yourdoctor can come up with a plan to prevent it.

LOWERING YOUR RISK WALKING IT OFF. Increased physical activ-

ity reduced the incidence of colorectal polypsamong African-American women by at least 15percent in last year’s Black Women’s Health

Study out of Boston University. Among the 45,000 womensurveyed, those who walked or engaged in vigorous exercisefor five or more hours each week were less likely to developthe typically benign growths where most colon cancer starts.

PUMPING UP ON D. Taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D a daycan lower your risk for certain cancers—including those ofthe breast, ovarian and colon—by up to 50 percent, accord-ing to studies conducted at the Moores Cancer Center at the

University of San Diego Medical Center. For African-Americans, whose increased skin pigmentation

lessens our body’s ability to make vitamin D nat-urally from exposure to sunlight, a daily sup-plement could have substantial benefits inthe war against cancer.

EATING YOUR VEGGIES. A diet loadedwith fruits and vegetables can give you a

healthy dose of immunity-boosting nutrients, including folate, the vitamin crucial to DNA

production and repair. In ongoing research at theUniversity of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, com-

promised DNA was proved to be an immediate risk factor formany cancers. Patients with a variety of cancers, includingbladder cancer, show a significantly poorer ability to repairthe DNA damage caused by exposure to environmental tox-ins and UV light. .

Experts estimate nearly 680,000 women will be diagnosedwith cancer this year—and 10 percent of them will be Black.

body & soul your cancer guide

See how your lifestyle choices can decrease—or increase—your chances of getting cancer

BY JESSICA CUMBERBATCH

Get Healthy Habits

Some studiessuggest heavydrinking can

increase awoman’s risk

for breastcancer.

Exercise can help you stayone step ahead of cancer.