KCCP Holds Seminar
on Prevention of Cancer
- Society notes foods critical to preventing, curing all forms of deadly disease

Expenses related to cancer treatment astounding amount of 210 trillion won around the world and Korea is no exception with 2.5 trillion won spent. Hospital expenses take up a large portion of the expense, but those spend outside hospitals at home are some times much bigger than those spent in hospitals, uprooting the finance of a household with a cancer patient
Dr. Paik Nam-sun set up the Korean Society of Clinical Cancer Prevention(KCCP) in January of last year to relieve pains of cancer patients brought on by economic problems.
In general, a cancer patient is declared cured completely after the lapse of 5 years from the date of operation or other anti-cancer treatment. But those patients remain cancer patients the rest of their lives worried that the sickness might recur. Many of them have no choice but to rely on health foods rumored to be good to them as there is no program developed by even hospitals for post-cancer care.
The KCCP has been devoted to solve this very problem with the participation of doctors including Oriental medical doctors, and nurses who have worked with cancer patients for many years. The society not only is dedicated to solving the economic problems for cancer patients, but also to raising the quality of their lives.
"A caner patient would have to follow what he is told to do by doctors while he is in the hospital, but post-hospital care has been limited to taking a physical check up once in a year, although post-hospital care is critically important as the sickness is prone to recur," said Dr. Paik.
According to the doctor, most causes of cancer are traced to diets of cancer patients. Even a long cancer, which often is said to be caused by smoking, occurs due to diets. Diets are key to preventing and recurrence of cancer, he said.
The recurrence of cancer can be prevented through simple changes in dietary conditions, not using expensive health foods as many caner experts agree. The society plans to continue to provide information on preventive measures for cancer including changes in diets and physical exercises.
Following are measures to prevent five forms of cancers most often found in the country:
Stomach cancer: This form of cancer is most related to foods. Salty food causes most stomach cancer because salt can hurt the stomach wall, which ultimately lead to cancer. They should not eat fish marinated with salt. So cancer patients should avoid eating salty foods to prevent recurrence of the deadly sickness.
The society recommends fresh fruits and vegetables including tomato, water melon, and melon. Milk is a good food as its calcium can prevent the erosion of stomach walls and the society said people should drink it continuously.
Lung cancer: The chance of smoker developing lung cancer is from 10 to 20 times higher than non-smoker and no cancer patient should take up smoking. Foods with a lot of vitamin A are recommended as it suppresses cancer from developing. Yellowish-green vegetables, tomato and carrots are recommended for inclusion in diets. Lung cancer patients should avoid meat and foods with saturated fats. Meat should be avoided and use unsaturated olive oil.
Liver cancer: Most liver cancer is caused by alcohols, which the patients should avoid at all costs like lung cancer patients avoiding smoking. Dr. Paik said one to two glasses of wine a day can serve to prevent liver cancer from occurring. The low cancer rate for French people is owed to their drinking a lot of grape wines compared to other peoples. Garlic is good for liver cancer patients. Garlic is good for all forms of cancer patients.
Intestinal cancer: Foods with much saturated fat is the most dangerous ones for intestinal cancer patients. It is dangerous for them to have well-done steaks; They should eat fibrous foods such as mushroom, vegetables, fruits, beans, sea weeds, barley, and among others.
Breast cancer: Women who are nearing the end of menstruation period in their lives, are prone to develop a breast cancer, especially those who don't exercise, fat, eat lot of food, including meat with lot of fat. Those with the sickness should avoid eating chicken skins, pork with fats and eat a lot of fish instead. A heavy-set woman is prone to develop a form of breast cancer and therefore, they should exercise a lot to keep them from getting heavier. Foods that would prevent the breast cancer would include beans, foods made with beans, as they have anti-cancer elements just like estrogen.
The Korean Society of Clinical Cancer Prevention held a joint Korea-Japan seminar on the prevention of cancer on Jan.9 at the Millenium Seoul Hilton Hotel.
Dr. Paik, in his speech at the seminar, said many advances have been made in medicine thus far, but none that would prevent the development of cancers. One out of four humans die from cancer; In other words, one/quarter of Koreans die from cancer and since 1988, cancer has been the number one cause of death in Korea. There has been an acute shortage of medical facilities catering to post-operation cancer patients or for those taking medication to cure the sickness, recommending kinds of foods to eat and exercises to take on a continuing basis., This has been one of the reasons why the families of the patients rely on all kinds of treatments available including folk medicine in search of cure for their sick family members.
KCCP has been established to provide education for doctors, including Oriental medical doctors, nurses and druggists on ways to upgrade means of care for post-operation cancer patients and provide correct information to cancer patients so that they may save expenses paid for wrong cures for their diseases, along with the unwanted side effects.
He said KCCP has been trying to develop improved treatment for cancers, upgrading all kinds of treatment means on hand.
He said the seminar featured Drs. Uno and Yokoyama from Japan to talk about their experiences of caring for cancer patients.,
Those who paid fees ranging from 50,000 won to 70,000 won to participate in the seminar won a membership to KCCP. Those who paid 200,000 won became permanent members of KCCP.
In a separate statement, Dr. Paik said one should not contract cancer from the beginning if he doesn't want to die from the cancer. Prevention is the best way not to contract it. Taking health foods, not smoking, and taking proper exercise, not worrying much are some of the ways to prevent cancer. Early detection is another way of saving oneself from dying from cancer, he said. Chances of contracting cancer have been heightened with average longevity prolonged; 80.4 years for women and 73.4 years for men in Korea. For people diagnosed with cancer, the best way is to receive proper treatments to prolong their lives and prevent recurrences.
KCCP's objective is to boosting the effectiveness of those treatments. Medicine is the most important service industry, but cancer experts have not been able to provide advice with regard to post-operation cares for cancer patients except, treating them with operations, anti-cancer treatments and radiation cure, not in the way of how they should do to prevent recurrences. Some even said they don't know if patients asked them what kinds of foods they should eat and what to avoid. They just didn't have any idea what after service means.
When children are born with good DNAs, like engines of Mercedes Benz, they have to care for them by using good-quality fuel, engine and transmission oil to have a long life. Otherwise, they would be like a tri-cycle with a short life. In case of a breakdown, its life still could be prolonged by using good engine oil and fuel oil including an anti-freeze engine oil during the winter.
This is where KCCP comes in; Providing education to doctors and nurses of post-operation care so that they may have scientific bases to serve those patients. "Supplemental cancer treatment" is a proper words to describe the work of KCCP, including good foods, vitamins, minerals, and fibrous foods. The society plans to provide its members with correct information on supplementary foods for cancer patients based on scientific and cost-effective analysis so that they may be able to save expenses spent on those health foods. nw