Health
To reduce cancer risk, researchers recommend adopting these 4 healthy habits
While some cancers are driven by genetics, studies have shown that up to half of all cases are caused by behavioral risk factors — which means they’re preventable.
Doctors recommend some common lifestyle changes to prevent cancer, such as not smoking, eating nutritious foods, wearing sun protection and limiting exposure to carcinogens — but each person’s means of reducing risk can look different.
Researchers at Mass General Brigham have compiled four specific, research-backed strategies for reducing risk.
BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSES SPIKING AMONG WOMEN UNDER 50, NEW REPORT REVEALS
1. Stay on top of preventive screenings
Procrastination is one of the top reasons for missed cancer screenings, research has shown.
Researchers at Mass General Brigham have compiled four specific, research-backed strategies for reducing risk. (iStock)
For example, colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in Black individuals in the U.S., but many do not get the recommended screenings.
A study by Dr. Adjoa Anyane-Yeboa, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), found that “self-reported procrastination” was the primary reason for the skipped screenings, fueled by “financial concerns, COVID-19 concerns and fear of both the test and bowel preparation.”
DRINKING ALCOHOL IS LINKED TO SIX TYPES OF CANCER, EXPERTS SAY: ‘IT’S TOXIC’
“The key takeaway from this study is that all providers should discuss colorectal cancer screening at regular intervals with all of their patients, because early detection through screening saves lives,” Anyane-Yeboa told Fox News Digital.
“To reduce their cancer risk, all people should be screened starting at age 45 and talk to their families about their family history to figure out if they need to be screened earlier.”
Screening guidelines for other types of cancers can be found on the American Cancer Society website. (iStock)
“Colorectal cancer is preventable with screening, and screening really does save lives.”
Screening guidelines for other types of cancers can be found on the American Cancer Society website.
2. Improve your sleep health
Insufficient or poor-quality sleep has been linked to a higher risk of developing cancers.
Heming Wang, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), led a research team that examined the impact of insomnia on ovarian cancer risk.
OVARIAN CANCER SIGNS, SYMPTOMS, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OPTIONS
“Insomnia is a common sleep disorder among ovarian cancer patients,” Wang told Fox News Digital.
“Our research revealed that insomnia increases the risk of a specific subtype of ovarian cancer and is associated with reduced survival in patients,” he went on.
Insufficient or poor-quality sleep has been linked to a higher risk of developing cancers. (iStock)
“These findings highlight the importance of addressing insomnia in the prevention and management of ovarian cancer.”
Based on these findings, seeking treatment for insomnia can help reduce the risk of certain types of ovarian cancer, according to the researchers.
3. Know the risks and benefits of daily aspirin use
Research has shown that regularly taking aspirin or another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) can reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer — but it can also lead to dangerous side effects, such as bleeding and inflammation.
“It is important to know if you are more likely to benefit from daily aspirin use,” according to MGH.
LEUKEMIA PATIENT RECEIVES FIRST-EVER BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT FROM DECEASED ORGAN DONOR
Daniel Sikavi, MD, and Andrew Chan, MD, of MGH, led a study that explored the link between aspirin and colon cancer risk.
“Our results suggested that people with a less healthy lifestyle — higher body mass index, more smoking, greater alcohol use, less physical activity and poorer diet quality — had a greater absolute benefit from aspirin use in reducing their risk of colorectal cancer,” Sikavi told Fox News Digital.
Research has shown that regularly taking aspirin can reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer — but it can also lead to dangerous side effects. (iStock)
People with a healthier lifestyle had a lower overall risk of colon cancer, the researchers found, but regular aspirin use didn’t have the same protective effects for that group.
“This work is an important example of a more personalized approach to cancer prevention by targeting effective prevention strategies to populations that are the most likely to benefit,” Sikavi noted.
4. Cut down on sugar-sweetened beverages
More than half of the U.S. population consumes sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on any given day, studies have shown.
Research by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that men and women who drank two or more servings of SSBs per day had a 5% higher risk of dying from an obesity-related cancer.
“Despite their sweet taste, sugary drinks pose significant health risks,” Longgang Zhao, PhD, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Fox News Digital.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
“Researchers have already linked the beverages to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.”
Zhao recently led a study that investigated the link between sugar-sweetened beverages and liver cancer risk among postmenopausal women.
Research has found that men and women who drank two or more servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a 5% higher risk of dying from an obesity-related cancer. (iStock)
“In our current study using data from the Women’s Health Initiative prospective cohort, we found that postmenopausal women who drank one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a higher risk of developing liver cancer and dying of chronic liver disease than those who drank less than three or fewer sugar-sweetened beverages per month,” he said.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
“If a causal link is established between sugary drinks and liver disease, the broader implications for global public health initiatives are substantial.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A study from Harvard Medical School indicates natural selection has favored the red hair gene, resulting in a potential increase in the number of redheaded people as humanity continues to evolve.
By analyzing nearly 16,000 ancient genomes spanning 10,000 years, researchers identified a list of traits that nature is actively pushing forward. Among the most prominent were the genetic variants for red hair.
“Perhaps having red hair was beneficial 4,000 years ago, or perhaps it came along for the ride with a more important trait,” the authors noted.
22 HEALTH CARE PREDICTIONS FOR 2025 FROM MEDICAL RESEARCHERS
The study, published in the journal Nature, relied on a large database of ancient DNA from West Eurasia. Using new computing methods, the team was able to filter out random fluctuations in DNA to identify what it called “directional selection.”
Directional selection happens when a particular version of a gene gives an organism a strong survival or reproductive advantage, causing it to become more common in a population faster than it would by chance, according to experts.
Directional selection is when a specific gene provides such significant benefits that it rises in frequency across a population much faster than random chance. (iStock)
Prior to this study, scientists only knew of about 21 such instances in human history, one of which was lactose tolerance. This new research uncovered hundreds more.
“With these new techniques and a large amount of ancient genomic data, we can now watch how selection shaped biology in real time,” Ali Akbari, first author of the study and senior staff scientist in the lab of Harvard geneticist David Reich, said in a press release.
COMMON EATING HABIT MAY TRIGGER PREMATURE IMMUNE SYSTEM AGING, STUDY FINDS
The data showed that genetic markers for red hair are among 479 gene variants that have been strongly favored over the past 10,000 years. One likely explanation, the researchers said, is a major shift in human history: the transition to farming.
Scientists have long pointed to vitamin D synthesis as a likely driver for the rise of traits like fair skin and light hair. (iStock)
As humans moved away from hunting and gathering and settled into agricultural societies, their environment and behavior changed radically, triggering an evolutionary “acceleration.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
While the Harvard study provides the first definitive statistical proof that red hair was actively selected during the rise of farming, the researchers noted that the exact prehistoric benefit still requires more study.
However, scientists have long pointed to vitamin D synthesis as a likely driver for the rise of these light-pigmented traits in northern climates.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
While redheads remain a minority of the global population today, the Harvard study’s analysis suggests that they may not be an evolutionary accident.
While redheads remain a minority of the global population today, the Harvard study’s analysis suggests they may not be an evolutionary accident. (iStock)
Instead, the red hair trait was “boosted” by natural selection as humans adapted to the challenges of a modern world, according to the researchers.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
The researchers urged caution in how these findings are interpreted.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“What a variant is associated with now is not necessarily why an allele propagated,” the authors noted.
Dr. Megan Jack, a neurosurgeon in Cleveland, often works 60 or 70 hours a week. And she’s completely unavailable when she’s in the operating room. That makes it tough to be a caregiver for her 76-year-old mother, who lives in a separate unit on Dr. Jack’s property, 30 minutes away from the hospital.
To help care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Jack uses an array of high-tech tools, some of which didn’t exist just a few years ago. She manages her mother’s medications with a smart pill box. She changes her television channels with an app, sends appointment reminders through a digital message board — and, with her mother’s blessing, uses cameras for communication and monitoring.
“It’s been invaluable that I can both make sure she’s safe and make sure everything is going well,” Dr. Jack said, “but also give her the independence and the freedom that she still deserves.”
America is aging rapidly. Roughly 11,000 people are turning 65 each day in the United States. And many of them — 75 percent of people over 50, according to AARP’s most recent survey, from 2024 — hope to spend their remaining years in the comfort of their homes, rather than in assisted-living or other care facilities.
One thing that could help fulfill those wishes is the budding field of “age tech,” which encompasses tools that support older adults. Industry experts say that age tech is making homes safer for older adults and is easing the minds of their caregivers, especially those who live far away or work outside the home.
Dr. Jack said that age tech had “really allowed me to integrate caregiving into my life, as opposed to caregiving taking over my life.”
The age tech boom
If older adults don’t have loved ones who are both close by and able to help, they might believe they don’t have a ton of options. They can live independently, or, if they can afford it and qualify medically, they can move to an assisted-living facility or a nursing home, without a lot of choices in between. In-home help can be expensive without Medicaid and can also be difficult to find, given the serious shortage of home care workers.
Age tech can help bridge some important gaps, said Emily Nabors, the associate director of innovation at the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit advocacy group. Already, AARP reports that 25 percent of caregivers are remotely monitoring their loved ones with apps, videos or wearables, nearly double the percentage from five years ago.
“We used to say homes are the health care settings of the future, but they really are health care settings now,” Ms. Nabors said. “Aging in place is very realistic.”
More than 700 companies are in AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, a group that connects businesses, nonprofits and funders to help get new technologies off the ground. Altogether, the collaborative’s start-ups have raised nearly $1 billion in the past four years.
The products include smart walkers, glasses with lenses that provide real-time captions of conversations for those with hearing issues, and a concierge service that connects older people to drivers and deliveries, even if they don’t have a smartphone.
Ms. Nabors does foresee some affordability and access barriers to age tech, including the lack of high-speed internet in rural areas, but she said one vital resource would be local aging agencies, which can offer advice and, sometimes, free support.
Janet Marasa leaned on the agency near her home in Rockland County, N.Y., to get a free robotic pet for her mother, Carol DeMaio, 80, who has dementia. The pets, manufactured by a company called Joy for All, aim to offer emotional support without the upkeep.
Ms. DeMaio named the robotic dog Sabrina, after a golden retriever who died. The new Sabrina stays at the foot of her bed at night. As soon as Ms. DeMaio stirs awake, the dog reacts. “She said it gives her a reason to get up in the morning,” Ms. Marasa said.
The dog has been a boon to her, too. “It provides comfort and interaction that I can’t provide every second,” said Ms. Marasa, who lives with her mother but works full time for the county government. “It gives her something that she can feel like is totally her own.”
In Broward County, Fla., where the population of residents over 85 is expected to nearly triple over the next few decades, the local agency on aging has used state and federal money and private grants to provide technologies to nearly 4,000 of the county’s seniors at no cost.
Its offerings include a company that uses radar to sense falls and a program that allows seniors to make video calls through their televisions.
“The possibilities are endless,” Charlotte Mather-Taylor, the agency’s chief executive, said. “It’s pretty great to see all the new technology coming out so quickly, and I think that can only benefit our older population and also our caregivers.”
Here comes A.I.
Even technologies not specifically marketed as age tech can help older adults maintain their independence, said Laurie Orlov, founder of the blog Aging and Health Technology Watch. She pointed to video-calling and telehealth platforms; remotely controlled thermostats and lights; and smart speakers, doorbells and watches.
“All technology can be customized to help older adults stay longer in their homes and help their family members feel good about it, or at least tolerate it,” Ms. Orlov said.
That will only become more true with the continued proliferation of artificial intelligence, Ms. Orlov added. Some older adults are already using conversational A.I. to get answers about things like the weather or their medications. (Relying too heavily on A.I. can, however, have negative consequences because chatbots often give flawed medical advice and can lead patients astray.) A.I. can also assist in pattern detection: alerting caregivers to signals that might indicate declines in someone’s cognition or mental health, such as changing their speech pattern or leaving the house less frequently.
One A.I.-powered age tech tool is ElliQ, a tabletop companion robot that looks like a sleek silver desk lamp with a screen. About a year and a half ago, Camille Wolsonovich got one for free, thanks to a local nonprofit, for her 90-year-old father, Bill Castellano. He lives alone in a senior community.
Ms. Wolsonovich, who runs a consulting business, relies on ElliQ to lead her father in exercises and remind him to take his pills and drink water. The robot also asks her father about his sleep and mood via automated check-ins.
“Everything’s just another layer that gives us more confidence, from a caregiving standpoint, that he’s good,” Ms. Wolsonovich said. “I don’t have to necessarily track everything all the time and be overbearing.”
As for Mr. Castellano? He plays trivia digitally and converses daily with ElliQ. The robot, which has a friendly female voice, asks questions, cracks jokes and remembers his likes, dislikes and friends. “She’s great company,” he said. “Everybody around me wants one.”
What about ethical concerns?
Clara Berridge studies the ethics of age tech at the University of Washington.
She has many privacy concerns, namely that most direct-to-consumer products aren’t subject to medical privacy laws, despite being privy to sensitive health information. Though she hopes the federal government will eventually step in to regulate these products, as it has in other countries, the onus remains on the consumer for now.
And even if an age tech product isn’t selling mom’s personal data to the lowest bidder, Dr. Berridge said there’s still the question of whether certain tools are ethical.
“It’s really important for caregivers to recognize that using these new technologies that give them more information about someone can represent greater intrusion into someone’s life,” she said.
What may be well-intentioned monitoring could reveal information that an older adult would rather keep private, such as issues with incontinence, or the comings and goings of a romantic partner.
“It can lead to somebody feeling infantilized,” Dr. Berridge said. “Like there’s not a place to hide within your own home.”
Her research shows that adult children often underestimate how much their parents can understand about technology and how much they want to be involved in tech-related decisions.
She encouraged caregivers to have transparent conversations about privacy implications and to avoid ultimatums or the idea that any decision must be permanent. She said caregivers should put themselves in their parents’ shoes: Is this something they’d want their own children monitoring?
Dr. Berridge is working on an advanced directive for technology, which outlines older people’s wishes for how technology is used in their care. Ultimately, she hopes that questions about age tech will become a standard part of planning for the future.
“If you’re at the start of what, for many people, ends up being a long road of supporting someone potentially through the end of their life,” she said, “seeking to understand each other’s concerns and priorities better is time very well spent.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A distraught mother who thought she was having a heart attack was instead hospitalized with broken heart syndrome — otherwise known as takotsubo syndrome (TTS) — less than a year after her veteran son tragically took his own life.
Dawn Turner, 57, of the U.K., lost her son in August of last year.
Just last month, the mom of three awoke with “unbearable” chest pains, she said — and called an ambulance, worried she was going into cardiac arrest. But when she arrived at the hospital, doctors told her she was suffering from the effects of grief caused by a broken heart, as news agency SWNS reported.
SIMPLE DINNER TABLE HABIT LINKED TO POOR DIET AND HIGHER HEALTH RISKS IN ADULTS OVER 60
TTS is a temporary, reversible heart condition often triggered by extreme emotional or physical stress, such as grief, fear or severe illness, according to experts.
Symptoms usually mimic a heart attack, with sudden and severe chest pain and shortness of breath the most common — and it primarily affects women over the age of 50.
A mom whose soldier son took his own life feared she was suffering cardiac arrest — only to be told by hospital doctors that she was feeling the effects of grief caused by a broken heart. Dawn Turner, mother of deceased soldier Rob Homans, is pictured above, April 2026. (SWNS)
Turner, of Eckington in Worcester, said, “I was [sitting] downstairs earlier that night and thought I had a bit of indigestion. I went to bed and just couldn’t get comfortable — I was breaking out in a sweat and had heart palpitations.
“Then, around midnight, I had pain down my arm and in my jaw. I was still putting it down to indigestion… My partner Paul asked me if I was all right, and I said, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’”
HIDDEN CAUSE OF VETERANS’ STRUGGLES DRIVES RENEWED URGENCY IN VA MESSAGING
She said she couldn’t catch her breath — “and my heart felt as though it was missing a beat and then [started] thudding again. For those moments, I truly believed I was having a heart attack.”
“Your heart is all over the place — there’s an extra beat,” Turner was told.
She said her partner called emergency services, and an ambulance arrived within five minutes.
“They came in and linked me up to an ECG. They said, ‘Your heart is all over the place — there’s an extra beat, and it’s all over the place,’” she said, as SWNS reported.
Turner was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
Turner is shown with her son in full dress uniform. He worked as an artilleryman and spent 10 years in the U.K.’s Royal Horse Artillery after joining in 2006. He was battling mental health challenges after his military service, and ultimately took his own life. (SWNS)
In emergency care, Turner was also given blood tests.
She added, “They came back and said I didn’t have the enzymes produced from a heart attack in my blood. But they said there [was] something going on.”
After undergoing more tests and seeing a cardiologist, Turner was told she had takotsubo syndrome.
WOMAN BEATS DEADLY BRAIN CANCER WITH EXPERIMENTAL STEM CELL THERAPY: ‘TRULY AMAZING’
“I told [the doctor] that my heart feels broken. I told her about [my son] Rob, and she said it’s exactly that. She said it’s a real thing, and that I’d been under so much stress. The body can only take so much, and the grief and the stress can be quite physical.”
Turner’s son committed suicide in August 2025 after struggling to get help with his mental health.
He spent 10 years in the Royal Horse Artillery after joining in 2006, when he worked as an artilleryman.
Turner’s son did two tours of duty in Afghanistan, she said. After he returned to civilian life, he began suffering from a number of health conditions. She’s shown above with a flower-draped memorial to her son. (SWNS)
He did two tours of duty in Afghanistan, she said, and returned to civilian life in 2016 before suffering several worsening health conditions.
Turner, who is also the CEO of a veterans charity called Stepway, “When he left the army, he got married, and they settled down in London. He walked straight into a job as a delivery driver. But then his health took a downward spiral, and he started having digestive troubles.”
YOUR HEART MAY BE OLDER THAN YOU THINK — AND THE NUMBER COULD PREDICT DISEASE RISK
He was eventually told he had PTSD — but those symptoms may be similar to those of mild traumatic brain injury, Turner said.
“He was deaf in one ear from using the guns,” she said. “He realized he was putting so much pressure on his marriage, so he moved back up with me. He started to build himself up — then COVID hit.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Turner said there were unfortunate delays as her son tried to get access to various services and facilities.
“When people lose loved ones, you’re obviously distraught, but you eventually find closure,” she said, per SWNS. “I found peace when I lost my sister in 2015. But with Rob, I can’t find closure because there’s no justice there.”
“I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart,” said the grieving mom. “Broken heart syndrome can look and feel like a heart attack.” (iStock)
Turner is now on the mend and hopes to be fully recovered in a couple of weeks, SWNS reported.
“Until that moment, I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart,” she shared. “Broken heart syndrome can look and feel like a heart attack. It was a warning sign for me, and for anyone. It can change the shape of one of your heart chambers … it can cause some serious damage.”
She added, “The cardiologist told me that thankfully, my heart itself is healthy and there was no damage, but that it will take around two weeks to a month for my heart to reboot itself.”
“Maybe the extra [heart]beat is for Rob. You are carrying on living for him,” her partner told her.
Turner was told she needed to rest, seek counseling and make lifestyle changes to reduce stress.
“Things have settled down, and I’m taking things easy — I’m pacing myself now, and I feel a lot better. Paul said, ‘Maybe the extra beat is for Rob. You are carrying on living for him.’”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Turner said, “That broke me and healed me a little bit all at once.”
Fox News Digital previously reported that broken heart syndrome, which causes the heart to temporarily weaken, has been linked to the brain’s reaction to stress, as studies have found.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
In an article published in the European Heart Journal in March 2019, Swiss researchers said they found that the syndrome is linked to the way the brain communicates with the heart.
Broken heart syndrome, which causes the heart to temporarily weaken, has been linked to the brain’s reaction to stress, studies have found. (iStock)
Caused by intense emotional events, TTS is a rare, temporary condition that weakens the left ventricle and disrupts its normal pumping function.
The syndrome causes the heart’s main pumping chamber to change shape and get larger. The heart muscle becomes weaker, and its pumping action loses strength.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Symptoms include sudden, intense chest pain, pressure or heaviness in the chest, along with shortness of breath.
It is treated with beta blockers and blood-thinning medicine to reduce risks of clots and other flareups.
-
Culture5 minutes agoPoetry Challenge Day 4: What The Stars Can Teach Us About Love
-
Lifestyle11 minutes agoThe Japanese Designers Changing Men’s Wear
-
Education17 minutes agoOpinion | Yale Has Come Up With a Surefire Way to Make a Terrible Situation Worse
-
Technology23 minutes agoThe Iranian women Trump ‘saved’ from execution are simultaneously real and AI-manipulated
-
World29 minutes agoFormer Mexican beauty queen found shot dead as investigators examine possible family involvement: reports
-
Politics35 minutes agoManhattan DA’s office employee charged with sexual abuse after alleged incident on Queens subway
-
Health41 minutes agoRed hair may be increasing as study points to surprising evolution trend
-
Sports47 minutes agoTrump envoy asks FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in 2026 World Cup: report