Cancer Research UK Annual Review 2011/12

14 | Our scientists are finding the answers
Preventing cancer:
stacking the odds in your favour
More people are surviving cancer
than ever before, largely because of
better tests and treatments. But this
is just one part of our fight against
the disease. Prevention really is
better than cure.
A person’s chance of developing
cancer depends on a mix of their
genes, the environments they
are exposed to and their lifestyle
choices. It’s vital that we continue
to investigate how lifestyles
affect cancer risk so that we can
improve awareness, help people
make healthy choices and find
new ways to prevent the disease.
This is why we carried out the most
comprehensive study of cancer and
lifestyle to date. Its results showed
that more than 100,000 cancers
diagnosed in the UK each year are
caused by smoking, unhealthy diets,
excess weight and alcohol.
Professor Max Parkin, based at
Queen Mary, University of London,
led this work. Here he gives some
insights from this research.
‘Many people believe cancer is down
to fate. But looking at the evidence,
it’s clear that around four in 10
cancers are caused by things we
mostly have the power to change.
Cancer risk can be affected by family
history and getting older, but these
figures show that we can take steps
to help reduce our risk of developing
the disease.
We didn’t expect
to find that among
women being overweight
has a greater effect than
alcohol. Or that eating
fruit and vegetables
would prove to be so
important in protecting
men against cancer.
Professor Max Parkin
Although leading a healthy lifestyle
doesn’t guarantee that a person
won’t get cancer, these results show
that healthy habits can significantly
stack the odds in our favour. This is
vital information that could help save
more lives in future.’
Our work on the causes and prevention of cancer has saved millions of lives across the world.