Cancer Research UK Annual Review 2011/12

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14 | Our scientists are finding the answers Preventing cancer: stacking the odds in your favour More people are surviving cancer than ever before, largely because of better tests and treatments. But this is just one part of our fight against the disease. Prevention really is better than cure. A person’s chance of developing cancer depends on a mix of their genes, the environments they are exposed to and their lifestyle choices. It’s vital that we continue to investigate how lifestyles affect cancer risk so that we can improve awareness, help people make healthy choices and find new ways to prevent the disease. This is why we carried out the most comprehensive study of cancer and lifestyle to date. Its results showed that more than 100,000 cancers diagnosed in the UK each year are caused by smoking, unhealthy diets, excess weight and alcohol. Professor Max Parkin, based at Queen Mary, University of London, led this work. Here he gives some insights from this research. ‘Many people believe cancer is down to fate. But looking at the evidence, it’s clear that around four in 10 cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change. Cancer risk can be affected by family history and getting older, but these figures show that we can take steps to help reduce our risk of developing the disease. We didn’t expect to find that among women being overweight has a greater effect than alcohol. Or that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. Professor Max Parkin Although leading a healthy lifestyle doesn’t guarantee that a person won’t get cancer, these results show that healthy habits can significantly stack the odds in our favour. This is vital information that could help save more lives in future.’ Our work on the causes and prevention of cancer has saved millions of lives across the world.
Annual Review 2011/12 | 15 More than 100,000 cancers are caused by smoking, unhealthy diets, excess weight and alcohol each year in the UK 60,000 Smoking Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of cancer. It causes more than four in five cases of lung cancer and increases the risk of over a dozen other cancers. Cancers including: Lung Oesophageal Oral Bladder Bowel Pancreatic 29,500 Unhealthy diet Diet can influence our risk of many cancers. You can reduce the risk by eating a healthy, balanced diet that is high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in red and processed meat and salt. Cancers including: Bowel Oesophageal Oral Lung Stomach Laryngeal 17,300 Excess weight Excess weight can increase the risk of two of the most common cancers and three of the hardest to treat. Most people are unaware that their weight can have such a strong influence on their cancer risk. Cancers including: Bowel Breast Womb Kidney Oesophageal Pancreatic 12,500 Alcohol Alcohol can cause many types of cancer, but only four out of 10 people know that drinking alcohol increases the risk of the disease. Cancers including: Bowel Breast Oral Oesophageal Laryngeal Liver cancerresearchuk.org *Some cancers are caused by more than one factor, so adding these totals will not result in the total number of cancers caused by all these factors.
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