Preventable risk factors linked to 40 percent of cancer deaths

A brand new study reveals that just about half of adult cancer deaths might be avoided by making easy lifestyle changes.

The American Cancer Society reports that its latest study shows that 40% of latest cancer cases in adults ages 30 and older are linked to “preventable risk factors.” The leading risk factor immediately is smoking, which the study reveals is answerable for nearly 1 in 5 cancer cases and a couple of third of cancer deaths attributable to disease.

“These are things that people can practically change in their daily lives to reduce their risk of cancer,” said Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer on the American Cancer Society.

Other risk factors related to cancer diagnosis and death include “excess body weight, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity,” in addition to “diet and infections such as HPV.”

The study, which checked out 18 modifiable risk factors across 30 differing types of cancer, found that greater than 700,000 latest cancer cases and greater than 262,000 deaths were linked to preventable risk factors in 2019. According to Dr. Kamal, cancer spreads because of damage to DNA or its fuel source. While genetic and environmental factors play an enormous role within the disease, preventable risk factors account for way more cancer cases and deaths than any known risk factor.

“With cancer, you often feel like you have no control,” Dr. Kamal explained. “People think it’s bad luck or bad genetics, but people need to feel in control and empowered.”

The second biggest cause of cancer, after smoking, is excess body weight, which, according to the study, is linked to 5% of latest cases in men and about 11% in women. What’s more, this factor is answerable for greater than a 3rd of cancer deaths attributable to the spread of the disease to the endometrium, esophagus, gallbladder, kidneys and liver.

Additionally, the risk of certain cancers was found to be reduced in people taking popular weight-loss and diabetes medications equivalent to Ozempic.

“Obesity is becoming, in some ways, as serious a threat to people as smoking,” said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

(*40*) not only advise people to change their lifestyle to prevent the risk of cancer and other deadly diseases, but in addition call on health officials and policymakers to “create environments where people have it easier, where the healthy choice is the easy choice.”

Plescia says it’s “never too late to make these changes” and urges people to take lifestyle changes seriously, reducing avoidable risk factors like smoking, obesity and weight loss program to avoid a cancer diagnosis or death.