Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies.
A recent study found that half of cancer deaths are preventable. Many cancers are attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors, including smoking, secondhand smoke, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, poor diet, physical inactivity, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and infection with viruses known to cause cancer, like HPV.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, health authorities have linked carrying excess weight to a greater risk of being diagnosed with at least 13 different types of cancer, especially for people over the age of 50. The CDC estimates that upwards of 684,000 new cancer cases related to excess weight are logged each year in the United States, with 90% concerning individuals aged 50 or above. Women are represented twice as often as men, with 470,000 and 210,000 cases logged, respectively.
The behaviors we engage in can cost us a hefty price.
Now, research shows that tattoos can be added to the growing list of modifiable risk factors.
Medical News Today reports on research that has found a link between body art and an increased risk of different cancers. Here’s the start of the story:
Tattoos can be strikingly beautiful forms of art, and they are increasingly popular. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2023, 32% of Americans have at least one tattoo, and 22% have several.
Beyond adorning the body on a permanent basis, tattoos can also provide a meaningful way of commemorating important life events, or they can be symbols of mental and emotional healing.
However, some questions remain around the potential health implications of getting a tattoo, and recently, researchers have been homing in on the ways in which the ways in tattooing could affect a person’s physical health in the long run.
One study, published in ASM Journals at the start of July 2024, tested samples of 75 tattoo and permanent makeup inks commonly used in the United States and found that 26 of these were contaminated with infection-causing bacteria.
These included Staphylococcus epidermidis, infection with which can cause severe health complications, and Cutibacterium acnes, which causes acne.
More worryingly, a study from Lund University in Sweden, which appeared in the journal eClinical Medicine the previous month, found that any-size tattoo was linked to a 21% higher link of lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.