Cancer: In the genes?

One in three people will get cancer at some point in their lives. By 2020 the number of people diagnosed with the disease in the UK is predicted to rise from 230,000 a year to almost 300,000.

Equip yourselves to demystify the mixed messages and make better choices for your own health by chatting to scientists researching cancer. Ask your own questions, and pick up tips on cancer avoidance before taking part in a grand brainstorming finale to help your host reduce his risk of getting cancer. Can we really prevent cancer by changing our lifestyles?

Tony Carr can explain the role genes play in our cancer risk. If people knew which two or three types of cancer their genes show they are most vulnerable to, would they concentrate on the advice for those diseases? If there were a test that could show you which diseases you are at risk from, would you take that test?

Which foods could have preventive effects and which foods are linked with certain cancers? Martin Wiseman helps you figure out which dietary choices are better than others.

How do scientists come up with recommendations? Isabel dos santos Silva will address the role of large population studies in cancer research, looking specifically at breast cancer screening.

Finally, how does behaviour change come about? Why is it often so hard to change our lifestyles and is there anything we can do about it? Chat to health psychologist Jane Wardle to find out.

Watch our event trailer to get you thinking, and use the comments board to ask your own questions. Do you have ideas or stories to share?

video

Read the poem this event has inspired: Cancer, by Heidi Williamson.

This event is supported by the Medical Research Council.

Event organised by:
The Science Museum

Speakers

Tony Carr, geneticist, University of Sussex
Isabel dos santos Silva, epidemiologist, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Jane Wardle, health psychologist, University College London
Martin Wiseman, Medical and Scientific Advisor, World Cancer Research Fund

comments

This event is part of Mixed Messages and Healthy Choices