Being Fat Increases Cancer Risks

There's a report showing new evidence of the health benefits of avoiding smoking, excessive drinking and being dangerously overweight: they are the leading preventable causes of cancer in adults, a new study found.

An American Cancer Society study published recently estimates 40 percent of new cancer cases of 44 percent of cancer deaths in people 30 and over could be avoided if people cut out high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and drinking. Experts say the study provides fresh evidence for public health leaders to encourage people to adopt healthy lifestyles to reduce the risk of cancer and ample evidence that people should take action to prevent it.

The American Cancer Society study examined cancer cases and deaths that could have been prevented through behavior and diet changes or vaccines for HPV and hepatitis B, which reduce the risk of cancer-causing infections.

Behaviors that can raise cancer risk include smoking, exposure to second-hand smoke, drinking alcohol and being overweight. Consumption of too much red meat or processed meat and diets short on fruits and vegetables, dietary fiber or calcium also increase the odds of getting cancer. The study also cited cancer risk from infections such as hepatitis B, Epstein-Barr virus, HIV, human papillomavirus and Kaposi sarcoma herpes virus.

Experts not involved in the population-level study said it's an important reminder for public health agencies and decisionmakers to adopt policies to encourage healthy behaviors.

The findings amount to "a big opportunity for our country – really every country – to reduce cancer incidence and mortality by being more proactive in prioritizing prevention at a personal level and at a societal level," said Ernest Hawk, vice president and head of cancer prevention and population sciences at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Hawk said the purpose of a study like this is not to shame individuals who smoke or drink or engage in other high-risk behavior, but rather to inform and educate.

The study estimated that, in 2019, 40 percent of the nearly 1.8 million cancers in adults 30 and older were attributable to "potentially modifiable risk factors." It examined 30 types of cancer and excluded non-melanoma skin cancers.

The causes of cancer the study said were preventable broke down like this:

• Cigarette smoking was the top risk factor, accounting for 19.3 percent of cases.
• Excess body weight was a risk factor in 7.6 percent of cases.
• Alcohol consumption was linked to 5.4 percent of cases.
• Ultraviolet radiation caused 4.6 percent of cases.