Lifestyle changes could prevent four in 10 cancers

New research by Cancer Research UK has revealed that over 135,500 cases of cancer a year in the UK could be prevented through lifestyle changes.

The study shows that 37.7 per cent of all cancers diagnosed each year in the UK could be prevented each year largely through lifestyle changes, with the charity also warning of the increase in obesity-related factors. Obesity causes 13 types of cancer, including bowel, breast, womb and kidney, meaning that more than one in 20 cancer cases could be prevented by maintaining a healthy weight.

Approximately 22,800 (6.3 per cent) cases of cancer a year are down to being overweight or obese, but this remains far behind smoking as a cause. Despite the continued decline in smoking rates, tobacco smoke caused around 32,200 cases of cancer in men (17.7 per cent of all male cancer cases) and around 22,000 (12.4 per cent) in women in 2015, according to the research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Other preventable causes of cancer include overexposure to UV radiation, drinking alcohol, eating too little fibre and outdoor air pollution

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “Leading a healthy life doesn’t guarantee that a person won’t get cancer, but it can stack the odds in your favour. These figures show that we each can take positive steps to help reduce our individual risk of the disease. This research clearly demonstrates the impact of smoking and obesity on cancer risk. Prevention is the most cost-effective way of beating cancer and the UK government could do much more to help people by making a healthy choice the easy choice.”