Cancer Risk Score Card

Rate each of the areas in all categories and total your score at the bottom. No risk assessment is perfect so do your best to simply offer insight on your habits and trends. This will serve to show areas where you can engage improvements. There is a separate educational piece to offer definitions and explanations to help clarify any questions you may have. See the companion piece that offers definitions and explanations to help you answer each of these categories. 

 

Diet

Diet plays a huge role in cancer risk and so points acquired or lost here will be significant. Vegetables kill cancer while sugar feeds cancer. A vegetable serving is considered ½ cup of cooked veggies or 1 cup of raw.

 

Vegetable

0-1/day

2-3/day

4-5/day

>5/day

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Cruciferous

never

1/week

2-3/week

daily

 

 

 

8

6

3

0

 

 

Fiber (Gm/day)

<10 Gm/day

10-20 Gm/day

20-30 Gm/day

>30 Gm/day

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Processed

Daily

occasional

Rare

Never

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Carbs - Grams

>120 Gm

80-120 Gm

50-80 Gm

<50 Gm

 

 

 

6

4

1

0

 

 

Organic

Never

occasional

>50%

>90%

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

GMO foods

Unaware

Try to avoid

Never

 

 

 

 

5

3

0

 

 

 

TOTAL Diet score

 

 

Exercise

Cancer hates oxygen and exercise enhances bodily oxygen content so in essence cancer hates exercise. It’s not “exercise” if it is below Zone 2 intensity. Walking your dog is lovely but it doesn't count as exercise. Just add up the total time spent in exercise at Zone 2 or higher each week.

 

<1 hour/week

1-2 hrs/week

2-3 hrs/week

3-4 hrs/week

 4-5 hrs/week

 

 

7

5

3

1

0

 

 

Exercise Score

 

 

Toxins

This is another big one as we live in a toxic world. You can do a lot to reduce the amount of toxins you take it. Avoiding all plastics and eating organic will go a long way to reduce your risk.

 

Plastic

Daily

Avoid 50%

Avoid 75%

Avoid 90-100%

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Microwave food in a plastic container oncer per week or more?  Add (+)10 points

 

 

Artificial sweeteners

Sucralose

Splenda

Aspartame,

Equal, Nutrasweet

Saccharin

Sweet N Low

Stevia, Swerve

Xylitol, Erythritol

 

 

 

4

4

1

0

 

 

Toothpaste

With Fluoride

Crest, Colgate, Sensodyne,
Arm & Hammer

Fluoride free toothpaste.

Cuprident, Coral, Tom’s

 

 

 

3

0

 

 

Toiletries

Skin Deep website – assess all the products you use.

See the list of “safer” options in the companion piece.

 

 

TOTAL Toxin Score

 

 

Weight

Belly fat makes cytokines that drive inflammation in your body. Toxins are stored in fat cells. Having more fat means you hold more toxins. Being overweight increases your cancer risk.  BMI is not the best reflection of fat excess but is a simple tool to start with.

 

Calculate BMI on a website

BMI >30

25 to 29

BMI <25

 

 

 

6

4

0

 

 

Weight Score

 

 

Mindfulness

Meditation or a “Stillness” exercise restore neurologic and physical health. It reduces the negative effects of stress and enhances immune function. Use of meditation enhances your ability to survive cancer and improves quality of life.

 

Time spent in mediation or stillness practice on a weekly basis.

 

 

<10 minutes

10-30 min

30-60 min

60-120 min

>120 minutes

 

 

7

6

4

2

0

 

 

Stillness / Meditation Score

 

 

Drugs

Some drugs when used chronically will increase the risk of cancer. If you are using any of the drugs listed below for more than 1 year then we need to consider risk vs benefit. Many of these drugs are used to reduce symptoms but a lifestyle change may remove the need for them.

 

Monoclonal antibodies:  Humira, Imuran, Cimzia, Remicade, Symponi.

(+)8 points

 

 

Progestins: Birth control pills, Provera, Jolivette, Megace, Aygestin, Camila, Crinone.

(+)8 points

 

 

Proton Pump Inhibitors:  Prilosec, Prevacid, Aciphex, Nexium

(+)8 points

 

 

Statins:  Atorvastatin (Lipitor), Fluvastatin (Lescol XL), Lovastatin (Altoprev), Pitavastatin (Livalo, Zypitamag),
    Pravastatin (Pravachol), Rosuvastatin (Crestor), Simvastatin (Zocor)   Mixed data.

(+)3 points

 

 

Metformin actually REDUCES cancer risk.

(-)10 points

 

 

TOTAL Drug use score

 

 

Stress

Excess cortisol damages immune function, adversely affects sleep and elevates blood sugar. All of these actions increase cancer risk. Your resting heart rate is not an absolute measure of stress but is a good relative indicator. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a better marker to track.

 

Resting heart rate

>80

70-80

65-70

<65  

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Heart Rate Variability

rmssd:

 <20

rmssd:

20-30

rmssd:

31-40

Rmssd:

 >40

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

TOTAL Stress score

 

 

Sleep

Melatonin production at night has broad impact on our body. It affects immune system function and reduces cancer risk. If sleep or melatonin is abnormal studies show a direct tie to cancer risk. Poor sleep patterns equate to uncontrolled stress and poor physiology increasing risk for cancer.

 

Sleep - time

<5 hours

5-6 hours

6-7 hours

>7 hours

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Awakenings

>3

2-3

1-2

None

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Dream

Never

<50% of the time

50-90% of the time

90-100%

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Snore

Yes, nightly

30-90% of nights

<30% of night

No

 

 

 

8

6

4

0

 

 

TOTAL Sleep Score

 

 

Alcohol

Sorry to report that any alcohol consumption may increase cancer risk for all sorts of cancers. Breast, prostate, bowel, lung and even skin cancer risk increases with even moderate drinking. Do your best to reduce overall intake.  

One drink is defined as a 12 ounce beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of spirits.

 

Alcohol

>7 drinks/week

5-7 drinks/week

3-4 drinks/week

1-2 drinks/week

None

 

 

 

8

6

4

2

0

 

 

TOTAL Alcohol Score

 

 

Tobacco

Any form of tobacco is problematic whether smoked or smokeless.

 

If you engage tobacco daily, then add 20 points to your score

 

 

If you engage tobacco <3 days per week then add 10 points to your score

 

 

TOTAL Tobacco Score

 

 

Coffee / Tea & Caffeine

Past literature pointed to caffeine as a risk for cancer as the roasting of coffee beans produces acrylamides a suspected carcinogen. But larger studies over time have NOT found a strong enough link between overall coffee consumption and cancer. So for now this doesn't appear to be a problem or issue that you need to modify.

 

Green tea consumption LOWERS cancer risk. If you enjoy actual green tea that you have brewed yourself then reduce your score by 5 points. 

 

 

Never drink green tea

Green tea intake >3 times per week

 

 

0

(-)5 points

 

 

TOTAL Tea Score

 

 

EMF’s  - Electro Magnetic Frequencies

Electro-Magnetic Fields are all around you but you do have the ability to reduce high intensity close encounters like cell phones. The International Agency for Research on Cancer states that smart phones, handheld electronics and tablets offer enough radiation to be a concern for cancer.

 

Cell phone

contact

>5 hour/day

of contact

3-5 hours/day

1-2 hours/day

<1 hour/day

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Laptop computer

or iPad

>5 hour/day

of contact

3-5 hours/day

1-2 hours/day

<1 hour/day

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Routers, WiFi, Bluetooth devices, Apple watch, EarBuds, FitBit

High contact

Medium

Low level

 

 

 

5

3

0

 

 

TOTAL Electronic Score

 

 

Lab Results

Cancer feeds on sugar and is killed by your immune system. Keeping blood sugar and insulin under control is key. The referennce range below is in regard to labs taken 2 hours after eating a 70 gram carb load (no fat or protein). Toxins promote cancer so assessing your detoxification ability (glutathione) is another view into risk. Your basic immune function can be assessed by looking at white cells (CBC).

 

Glucose

>140

121-140

101-120

<100

 

 

 

10

7

4

0

 

 

Insulin

>40

21-40

10-20

<10

 

 

 

10

7

4

0

 

 

CBC - LMR

<2.5

2.5-3.0

3.1-3.8

>3.8

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

Glutathione

<175

175-200

201-250

>250

 

 

 

6

4

2

0

 

 

TOTAL Lab Score

 

 

Total Cumulative Score for all Categories

 
                                                                                               

 

Scoring – total your accumulated points and grade it accordingly:

  • <50
    • Very nice. You have obviously taken steps to reduce risk in your life and that is commendable. Now . . . how do we continue to take action? What are the few weak points that you can improve?
  • 50-99
    • You probably represent the vast majority of people that try to make good choices but lack consistency. Maybe it’s just a blind spot in your daily habits. Use this score card to highlight where you want to dig in and make your statement.
  • 100-150
    • This score should act as a shot across your bow. You currently hold a few habits that are actively inviting cancer cells to grow. Take inventory of the good things you currently engage and ask yourself, “how can I improve”.
  • >150  
    • This high score simply represents where you are today and doesn't speak to your unlimited potential. This is a wakeup call. See that you are standing closer to the cliffs edge than you would like and begin to take a few simple steps to move away. Cancer is never “inevitable” but you are flirting with it in a serious way.

 

There is no reason to tilt the truth as this score card serves you and only you. There is no perfection in this world so as you look at your score simply work to make small gradual change to improve it. This is not a competition so comparing scores with other may not be of any benefit.

 

My recommendations:

  1. Look at the categories where your score was highest and engage one or two of those elements for change. Set a timeline for that change, give it a deadline or it will never happen.
     
  2. Pick a category that you are excited to improve. We each have preferences so select which category looks the most inviting and easy to correct. Start there so you can create some forward momentum.
     
  3. Whatever your score, vow to cut that score in half within the next 3 months. Beyond that, continue to remind yourself of the healthy habits this card shares and find ways to embrace those changes over time.

 

 

Back to Cancer Back to Education