One third of cancers caused by modifiable risk factors

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study says that of seven million deaths caused by cancer, one third is due to nine risk factors that could be modified.
We already know that various risk factors like smoking and diet are involved in cancer. But previous reports have been confined to how a single risk factor affects a single cancer. Now researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, report on how worldwide and regional mortality for site-specific cancers vary with nine different risk factors.

The team says that overweight and obesity, low fruit and vegetable intake, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol, unsafe sex, air pollution, indoor smoke and contaminated injections account for over one third of cancers worldwide in low and medium income countries. In high income countries, smoking, alcohol, overweight and obesity are the most important causes of cancer. Clearly lifestyle modification might go a long way towards reducing your risk of cancer.

Source
The Lancet 19th November 2005