Why You Can’t Get Heart Cancer

Have you ever wondered why we never hear about heart cancer? A very interesting article in Time Magazine (Sept 8-15) explains it. As you probably know, tumors grow when abnormal cells divide uncontrollably. Yet, the heart cells only divide during fetal development. That is the only time that the heart can possibly form a tumor. However, even if that occurred, cell division stops at birth, so the tumor cannot grow into a cancer.

You may say, “But the heart gets larger as an infant grows into adulthood.” While that’s true, the heart muscle cells get larger by expanding, not multiplying. Thus, cancerous cells, if they did exist, can’t multiply and lead to heart cancer.

The downside of the heart muscle cells not dividing is after a heart attack. Those cells cannot be regenerated. So it behooves us to do whatever we can to protect the heart — eating healthfully, exercising and controlling our weight.