An Unhealthy Lifestyle Increases the Risk of Cancer

Our lifestyle is changing so that to allow us to keep up the pace with everything else around us. Sadly, our lifestyle is also responsible for the rising number of cancer cases, as a new report by the World Cancer Research Fund has shown: drinking, lack of exercise and obesity are three of the most important factors, after smoking, responsible for many cancers that could be otherwise avoided.

Of the countries included in the report, Britain scored the highest points for sedentary behavior, alcohol intake and obesity, which means that it also got the highest percentage of preventable cancers – 39 percent of the 12 major types. The US came behind with 34 percent, Brazil with 30 and China with 27 percent. At the same time, the report also highlighted that the situation could be easily overturned by adopting a series of joint drastic changes that would encourage people to lead a healthier lifestyle.

“We are more unhealthy in terms of lifestyle than other countries. People in the UK drink more than in the U.S., for example, which increases the preventability potential. There are more preventable behaviors here, which is why the UK is worse than the U.S. The figures in this report have been agreed by the most eminent of scientists and they are as accurate as they can be with the available data.” Martin Wiseman, the project’s director, says for the Daily Mail.

Eating less processed meat, more fruit and vegetables, lowering alcohol intake and weight watching could be the first steps towards solving this problem, researchers advise. Nevertheless, it’s not enough to just put the word out there, they add, since the government and companies also have to get involved to really make a change. What’s more important, this has to be done as soon as possible, to prevent a possible crisis.

“Around 13,000 cancer cases in the UK are linked to being overweight or obese. And even more are linked to poor diets, drinking too much alcohol and not doing enough exercise. After smoking, these are some of the biggest preventable causes of cancer. Doing nothing could be disastrous. There is no magic bullet, no one single fix to the problem. If we are to tackle the situation, we need individuals, business and government to work together to encourage healthy lifestyles by promoting things like cycle lanes and food labeling.” Richard Davidson of Cancer Research UK underlines for the same publication.