Question: Comment 1

A major contributing factor to the incident and mortality rate is diet. According to the national cancer institute, one-third of cancer cases in the United States are related to poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and/or excess body weight or obesity, and thus could be prevented. A past issue that I observed in the District of Columbia is that in the low-income communities, you had more convenient stores with predominantly processed foods, fast food chain restaurants, and liquors stores than you had organic markets and open plot areas for the community to establish their own access to fresh produce. Today, that changed drastically. Although those stores and poor restaurants still exist they have areas within these communities where farmers can come in and sell fresh and even organic fruits, vegetables, and meats to the community. Also, those that require supplement assistance are able to get a discount of some sort when they participate buy buying from these event. Within my own community, the local schools have after school set ups where parents and those in the community can come and buy. With increasing the access to healthier food options, the way people view healthy eating needs to change. There are so many tasty and delicious alternatives to the greasy fried food people eat that are unaware of it. Although diet plays a vital role in preventing cancer, harmful habits such as smoking lead to cancer of the lungs. This has been an ongoing issues affecting everyone young and old as well as indirectly by means of secondhand smoke.

Comment 2

1. The Study of Cancer Survivors assesses survivors' health behaviors and physical, emotional functioning as they are going through the survivorship of cancer. This is a longitudinal study to compare changes over time of survivors in order to study about long-term impact of cancer.

2. The National Quality of Life Survey for Caregivers studies about unmet needs among cancer caregivers and the impact on their quality of life.

3. Symptom Surveillance and Disparities Study identifies side effects of cancer treatment, which sometimes go under-reported or under-treated, leading to unnecessary suffering and impairments in quality of life of cancer patients. This study helps to develop a scientifically systems for tracking trends in cancer symptoms and its and management.

4. The Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors assesses the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of primary care physicians and oncologists regarding post-curative care of colorectal and breast cancer survivors. This study also identifies physician and patient barriers in order to provide an optimal care to colorectal cancer survivors.

5. The Post-Treatment Survivor Transition Study examines the preparedness of cancer survivors for transition from active treatment back to the community care setting. A good preparedness for transition is associated with better outcomes, such as compliance with screening/surveillance recommendations, fewer emergency room visits, and better management of symptoms and co-morbid condition