Many things can contribute to cancer, including genetic factors and lifestyle factors.
It is known that an unhealthy lifestyle can cause many types of cancer.
For example, sitting too much and eating a diet high in saturated fat could contribute to colon cancer. Smoking tobacco may lead to lung cancer.
Drinking alcohol excessively is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Experts from the American Cancer Society suggest that 5 unhealthy things cause most cancers and that people can avoid them.
Unhealthy diet
An unhealthy diet contains too much sodium, added sugar, red and processed meat, and calories and too few fibers, vitamins, minerals.
Many fast-food meals are unhealthy and can contribute to higher cancer risks and obesity. On the contrary, a healthy diet is full of vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats.
Previous studies have found that the combination of low calcium, fiber, and fruit and vegetable intake and high red and processed meat intake may cause 4.2% of cancers.
For colon cancer, 5.4% are linked to high red meat consumption causes. In addition, low fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to 17.6% and 17.4% of oral cavity/pharynx and larynx cancers.
Smoking tobacco
Since 1991, cancer mortality rates in the U.S. have decreased by 26%. More than half of the decline is due to reductions in tobacco smoking.
Research has shown that tobacco smoking is the most common cause of cancer diagnosed and cancer death.
Scientists suggest that tobacco control can help prevent more cancer deaths than any other prevention strategy.
Sedentary lifestyle
Sitting too much is a big risk factor for cancers.
About 2.9% of all cancer cases in the U.S. in 2014 were due to low physical activity. Among them, uterine cancer and colorectal cancer are related to a sedentary lifestyle most.
Many studies have found that exercise regularly every week is very important to maintain physical and mental health and achieve healthy aging.
Excessive alcohol drinking
Research has shown that alcohol is the third major modifiable factor to cancer. It is linked to 6.4% of cancers in women and 4.8% of cancers in men in 2014.
The cancers related to alcohol drinking include oral cavity/pharynx cancers, larynx cancers, liver cancers, esophageal cancers, and colorectal cancers.
Researchers suggest a comprehensive cancer control plan is important for cancer prevention. It may help protect many people from cancer diagnosis and death.
Obesity and overweight
Previous research has shown that obesity could contribute to 13 types of cancer. The cancers include gallbladder, liver, and kidney/renal cancers.
In the U.S., about 7.8% of cancer cases in 2014 were attributed to excess body fatness. More research is needed to understand the full impact of the obesity epidemic on the cancer burden.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about vitamin D levels in blood is linked to your colon cancer risk and findings of a new type of lung cancer discovered by scientists.
For more information about cancer prevention and treatment, please see recent studies about a new treatment for pancreatic cancer and results showing that matcha green tea could kill cancer stem cells.
