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 People could cut back on their cancer risk by maintaining a healthy
body weight, exercising, not abusing alcohol and not smoking, the
study suggests.
The findings challenge the results of a 2015 report in the journal
Science that attributed many cancers simply to the bad luck of
mutations during cell division, according to the authors of the new
report in JAMA Oncology.
The study's lead author told Reuters Health that in addition to
challenging the notion that most cancers can't be prevented, the
researchers wanted to clarify what proportion of U.S. cancer cases
can be tied to lifestyle factors.
"We want to clarify the confusion that has been created by the
Science paper and to make sure the public understands the importance
of lifestyle factors on cancer risk," said Dr. Mingyang Song, of the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
Song and his colleague Dr. Edward Giovannucci used data on 135,970
people, mostly whites, to calculate how many cancer cases could be
prevented if people maintained healthy lifestyles.
They defined a healthy lifestyle as not smoking, not abusing
alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising. Overall,
11,731 people, or about 9 percent, fell into the healthy group,
which the researchers considered low-risk. People who didn't meet
the healthy criteria were considered high risk.
About 25 percent of cancers in women and 33 percent of cancers in
men could be attributed to lifestyle factors, the researchers
maintain. A large number of cancer-related deaths could also be tied
to those factors.
When they compared the healthy group and the general white U.S.
population, the results were even more dramatic with 41 percent of
cancer in women and 63 percent of cancer in men being tied to
lifestyle factors.
For individual types of cancers, they found that 78 to 82 percent of
lung cancers, 20 to 29 percent of colon and rectal cancers, 29 to 20
percent of pancreas cancers and 27 to 32 percent of liver cancers
may be tied to lifestyle factors.
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About 4 percent of breast cancer cases and about 21 percent of
endometrial, ovarian and prostate cancers can be tied to lifestyle
factors, too, according to the authors.
Song said the results should encourage people to adopt or continue
to follow healthy lifestyles.
In an editorial, Dr. Graham Colditz and Siobhan Sutcliffe of
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis agree that the
new study shows cancer is preventable.
"That’s not to say there aren’t some genetic components, but if
you’re not smoking your risk is substantially lower," Colditz told
Reuters Health.
Referring to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's initiative to find
cancer cures, Colditz said it's also important to harness this
information and implement population-based strategies to prevent
cancers through lifestyle factors.
"Clearly the vice president's 'moonshot' needs to really engage and
take prevention as a serious strategy so we actually implement what
we know," he said. "For me the challenge is to get beyond just
thinking this is all an individual choice."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Xn1z96 and http://bit.ly/1Xn1r9J JAMA
Oncology, online May 19, 2016.
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