Lifestyle Changes Could Prevent 50% of Cancers

Medscape reports on the findings of Graham Colditz, PhD, DrPH who presented a paper at the Union for INternational Cancer Control World Cancer Congress 2012 who stated that more than 50% of cancer could be avoided by using preventative lifestyle strategies. 1/3 of cancer in high-income countries is due to smoking, so obviously not smoking is a good idea. About 20% of cancers can be attributed to being overweight or obese. A healthy body mass index  (BMI) to prevent cancer is considered between 21 to 23 kg/m2, so slightly less than 24.9 considered normal weight. Poor diet and lack of exercise each are associated with about 5% of all cancers. He speculated that improvement in diet could reduce cancer incidence by 50% and an increase in physical activity could reduce cancer incidence by up to 85% in 5-20 years.
Other non-lifestyle factors included tamoxifen in reducing recurrences of breast cancer, raloxifene in reducing the risk for invasive breast cancer, bilateral oophorectomy in women carrying the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, aspirin for colorectal cancer prevention, and use of colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy as screening tools. Three viruses have been associated with cancers so far: human papillomavirus, hepatitis B an C. Vaccinations and treatment against these viruses could eradicate those cancers.
The reductions seen with the lifestyle changes are quite impressive and there are no downsides to implementing them. There can be unwanted consequences from any of the drug treatments. It seems safest to implement the lifestyle changes.

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