18/11/2005

Lifestyle changes could reduce cancer deaths

More than a third of all cancer deaths could be prevented by simple lifestyle changes, a new study has claimed.

A study conducted by Harvard University, published in ‘The Lancet’ today, identified nine risk factors for developing cancer.

Smoking remains the highest risk factor, responsible for 21% of cancer cases worldwide. However, the researchers identified eight other factors that impacted on several cancers – obesity, alcohol use, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of exercise, unsafe sex, air pollution, indoor smoke from fuels and contaminated injections.

Smoking has been linked to several cancers, including oesophageal and oral cancers, as well as lung, bronchial and tracheal cancers. Alcohol is also a factor in oesophageal and oral cancers, while the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus is a risk factor for the development of cervical cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Majid Ezzati said that interventions in lifestyle and environmental factors could substantially reduce the global proportion of deaths from cancer.

Cancer was responsible for seven million deaths worldwide in 2001.

(KMcA/SP)

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