Half of all cancers could be prevented if people just
adopted healthier behaviours, US scientists argued on Wednesday.
Smoking is blamed for a third of all US
cancer cases and being overweight leads to another 20 percent of the
deadly burden that costs the United States some $226bn per year in
health care and lost productivity.
For instance, up to three quarters of US
lung cancer cases could be avoided if people did not smoke, said the
review article in the US journal Science Translational Medicine.
Science has shown that plenty of other
cancers can also be prevented, either with vaccines to prevent human
papillomavirus and hepatitis, which can cause cervical and liver
cancers, or by protecting against sun exposure, which can cause skin
cancer.
Society as a whole must recognize the
need for these changes and take seriously an attempt to instil healthier
habits, said the researchers.
Exercising, eating right and refraining
from smoking are key ways to prevent up to half of the 577,000 deaths
from cancer in the United States expected this year, a toll that is
second only to heart disease, according to the study.
They include scepticism that cancer can
be prevented and the habit of intervening too late in life to stop or
prevent cancer that has already taken root.
Also, much of the research on cancer
focuses on treatment instead of prevention, and tends to take a
short-term view rather that a long-term approach.
“Humans are impatient, and that human trait itself is an obstacle to cancer prevention,” said the study.
Complicating those factors are the
income gaps between the upper and lower social classes that mean poor
people tend to be more exposed to cancer risk factors than the wealthy.
“Pollution and crime, poor public
transportation, lack of parks for play and exercise, and absence of
nearby supermarkets for fresh food hinder the adoption and sustained
practice of a lifestyle that minimizes the risk of cancer and other
diseases,” said the study.
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