Thousands pay cancer price of "bad habits"

Wednesday December 7th, 2011

Smoking, poor diet, alcohol and obesity are responsible for 100,000 cases of cancer a year in the UK, campaigners said yesterday.

This represents a third of all cases of cancer diagnosed.

In all more than 40 per cent of cases of cancer are caused by common avoidable causes, including sexually transmitted viruses, sun exposure and hazards at work, according to Cancer Research UK.

Campaigners said it was especially important for men to eat fruit and vegetables.

And women's weight is a bigger cancer risk than overuse of alcohol, the researchers say.

The new analysis is published today in the British Journal of Cancer.

It suggests that 45 per cent of cases of cancer in men can be prevented - and 40 per cent of cancers in women.

Researcher Professor Max Parkin, of Queen Mary College, London, said most cases of cancer would have multiple causes - with risks interacting with each other.

He said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or ‘in the genes’ and that it is the luck of them draw whether they get it.

“Looking at all the evidence, it’s clear that around 40 per cent of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change.

“We didn’t expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn’t expect being overweight to have a greater effect than alcohol."

Cancer Research UK chief executive Dr Harpal Kumar said: "Leading a healthy life doesn’t guarantee that a person won’t get cancer but this study shows that healthy habits can significantly stack the odds in our favour.

“While we have made tremendous progress in improving the chance of surviving cancer during the last 40 years, we need to make sure people are made aware of the risks of getting the disease in the first place so they can make the healthiest possible lifestyle choices."

Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, described the findings as "stark".

He said: "The rising incidence of preventable cancers shows that the 'carrot' approach of voluntary agreements with industry is not enough to prompt healthy behaviours, and needs to be replaced by the 'stick' approach of legislative solutions."

The fraction of cancer attributable to lifestyle and environmental
factors in the UK in 2010, D. M. Parkin. British Journal of Cancer Supplement December 7 2011

Tags: Cancer | Diet & Food | Drug and Alcohol Abuse | UK News

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