Wrong lifestyle leads to 400 cases of cancer per day

Experts warn that fast food, alcohol and excessive sun exposure lead to about 400 preventable cancer cases per day.

They estimate that about 155,000 diagnoses could be prevented each year if people led healthier lifestyles.

Cutting down on red meat, avoiding processed meats, and drinking less alcohol are some of the World Cancer Research Foundation’s recommendations to help reduce your risk of this disease.

In 2020, 387,820 people were diagnosed with cancer, an increase of more than 20,000 in two years, even as the Covid pandemic disrupted services and diagnoses.

Approximately four out of ten such cases could be prevented by making better lifestyle choices, such as eating healthier, not smoking, and exercising.

Breast cancer was the most common type with 56,987 new diagnoses, followed by prostate cancer at 55,068.

Lung cancer remains the deadliest, with 34,171 deaths in 2019/20, and the second most common, with 48,754 new cases. These numbers are slightly down from 35,180 and 48,017 respectively. Cases of fatal melanoma skin cancer, which can be caused by excessive sun exposure, rose from 16,183 to 17,845 over a two-year period.

Meanwhile, there were 44,706 cases and 17,484 deaths from bowel cancer, which is increasingly associated with lifestyle factors.

Being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of developing 13 types of cancer, including breast, uterine, colon, liver, kidney and pancreatic cancers. Smoking is estimated to be the cause of 70 percent of lung cancers, accounting for almost one fifth of all new cancer cases each year.

But since about two-thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese, experts warn that it’s only a matter of time before this replaces smoking as a major cause of the disease.

The data show that the number of preventable cases has increased by 8,000 since 2017/18.

Dr. Vanessa Gordon-Dsiagou of WCRF, who funds scientists around the world to study ways to prevent cancer, said the number of aging people will continue to rise in the next few decades.

But she suggested that the chances of contracting many types of cancer could be reduced by avoiding alcohol by eating no more than three servings of red meat per week. Other measures include safe sun exposure and, if possible, breastfeeding babies.

“Studies have shown that about 40 percent of cancers are associated with modifiable risk factors. These include smoking and limiting sun exposure. Screening plays a vital role in improving cancer outcomes – the sooner someone is diagnosed, the more likely they are to survive,” added Dr. Vanessa Gordon-Dsiagu.

The charity’s report comes after Cancer Research UK said “stopping smoking” would cut the number of deaths from the disease.

A study published in the journal PLOS One showed that if no one smoked in England alone, the number of such deaths would drop from 27,200 to 16,500.

Christina DENISYUK.

Source www.dailymail.co.uk

Photo by Shutterstock / Ekaterinburg Markelova