There is no known way to totally prevent esophageal cancer. Researchers and scientists are working on cancer prevention day and night, but so far the only vaccine that has been developed is one for the prevention of cervical cancer caused by exposure to the HRT virus. Maybe someday there will be a little pill we can all take that will prevent all kinds of cancers from developing. Meanwhile, we concentrate on lowering the risk of developing cancer, including esophageal cancer. The good news is that there really are things that we can do to lower the risk.

There are, of course, risk factors that none of us have the slightest control over, like age, sex, and race. But there are other lifestyle choice risk factors that we do have control over. In the United States the two biggest lifestyle choice risk factors for developing esophageal cancer are cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse.

The risk of esophageal cancer increases by 18 times in people who drink more than 13 ounces of alcohol a day over a period of years. If this same alcohol-drinking person smokes one or two packs of cigarettes a day, the risk of esophageal cancer increases to 44 times. Avoiding alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are the best ways to reduce the risk of esophageal cancer.

Exercise and diet are also important lifestyle risk factors for esophageal cancer that we can all exercise some control over. A daily diet that contains at least five servings of fruits and vegetables and some whole grain foods and that is low in saturated fats and prepackaged food is the best esophageal cancer-preventing diet. Regular aerobic exercise is also known to lower the risk of all kinds of cancers.