Chronic Disease Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Chronic Disease Paper - Essay Example According to Andrew Prentice, professor of international nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, he finds developing countries facing a â€Å"double burden of disease†. Nutrition and life styles play a major role where chronic diseases are concerned. Cancer occurs or develops when the abnormal cells in ones body grow rapidly out of control. Normally, the cells in our body grow, divide and die in a systematic fashion. When the person is young, the cells grow rapidly until the person reaches adulthood after which the cells in the body mostly divide to repair any injury or to replace the dead or worn – out cells. In the case of Cancer, the cells are much different than normal cells. They keep on growing and dividing replacing the normal cells with abnormal ones. Cancer occurs because of the damage caused to the DNA which is present in every cell and conducts all our activities. Usually, when the DNA becomes damaged, the body is in a position to repair it. But in case the cells are cancerous, the DNA is not repaired. Damaged DNA can also be inherited and therefore can get cancer later on in life. Substances in the environment can damage the DNA, such as smoke from tobacco. Cancer cells often travel to different parts of the body where they take root and grow and multiply while replacing normal tissue. The process by which this takes place is called â€Å"Metastasis†. Most of the Cancers form tumors but in the case of leukemia no tumor is formed but instead these cells flow with the blood and circulate through the blood forming organs. Different types of cancer react differently to different types of treatment. All cancers are not life threatening. The tumors may be benign or non-cancerous and do not spread or metastasize to the various parts of the body. They multiply at a different pace and needs a