Cancer: 42 percent of cases down to risk factors you can change

A large new study from the American Cancer Society inventories the risk factors for various types of cancer. Those findings shed much-needed light on the proportion of cancers that could be prevented by making the necessary lifestyle changes.

The new research examined a total of 1,570,975 cancer cases, 587,521 of which resulted in death. During the analysis, 26 cancer types and 17 risk factors were analyzed.

These 17 risk factors are called “modifiable” because people can take active measures to change them. In the new study, such factors included:

  • alcohol intake
  • smoking (both first- and second-hand)
  • excess body weight
  • a low content of fiber in one’s diet
  • the consumption of processed red meat
  • a low intake of fruit and vegetables
  • ultraviolet (UV) radiation
  • low calcium
  • a lack of physical activity

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