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More Than A Third Of All Global Cancer Cases Are Preventable Through Lifestyle Changes, WHO Says 

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According to a new study and analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a third of all cancer cases globally are preventable. There are several ways in which we can reduce the odds of many different kinds of cancers developing, and a lot of it has to do with our overall lifestyle habits. 

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The organization wrote that lung, stomach, and cervical cancers make up nearly half of those cases, meaning that millions of deadly cancers every year could be prevented through medical intervention, behavior changes, reducing occupational risks, and/or combatting environmental pollutants, according to ScienceAlert. 

The study itself was published in Nature Medicine.

“Addressing these preventable causes represents one of the most powerful opportunities to reduce the global cancer burden,” says Isabelle Soerjomataram, medical epidemiologist at WHO and senior author of the analysis.

The specific analysis found that in 2022 there were about 19 million new cases of cancer, and about 38% of those diagnoses were related to 30 changeable risk factors. 

It was reported that these risk factors include “tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, high body mass index, insufficient physical activity, smokeless tobacco (like chewing tobacco), a traditional stimulant known as areca nut, suboptimal breastfeeding, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, infectious agents, and over a dozen occupational exposures.”

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Smoking tobacco was the number one preventable factor associated with cancer, and was linked to 15% of all cancer cases in 2022. 

For men specifically this risk was particularly high, and smoking contributed to 23% of all new cancer cases globally in men that year. 

Air pollution also plays a major role in cancer cases, and varies by region. In East Asia, it was reported that around 15% of all lung cancer cases in women were due to air pollution. In Northern Africa and Western Asia, about 20% of all lung cancer cases in men were also due to air pollution. 

Drinking alcohol was the second changeable lifestyle factor that was linked to 3.2% (around 700,000) of all new cancer cases. 

Certain infections within the body were also linked to about 10% of new cancer cases. In women, the largest share of preventable cancers were due to high-risk human papillomavirus, or HPV, which has been known to potentially lead to cervical cancer. 

“By examining patterns across countries and population groups, we can provide governments and individuals with more specific information to help prevent many cancer cases before they start,” says André Ilbawi, WHO Team Lead for Cancer Control and co-author of the analysis.

Memory Loss

These Lifestyle Changes Can Delay Dementia Symptoms, Study Suggests

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In a new study performed in the UK, scientists measured how 12 major lifestyle changes could help prevent dementia symptoms and delay its development within patients. Things like excessive drinking, exposure to air pollution, and head injuries all increase the risk of dementia, however, if these factors, among the eight others, are addressed early on, it could delay or even prevent dementia symptoms from appearing by nearly 40%. 

50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. England alone is projected to have 1.2 million cases by 2040, which has acted as an extreme motivation for scientists and doctors looking into ways to treat dementia and slow down its detrimental effects. Professor Gill Livingston was a co-author of the study who claims that while some things like genetics can’t be avoided in terms of potential risk for dementia, lifestyle changes can have an extreme impact on one’s risk. 

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“Dementia is potentially preventable – you can do things to reduce your risk of dementia, whatever stage of life you’re at.”

Even individuals with a high genetic risk of contracting the illness can reduce that risk by implementing these changes into their own lives. The specific report that was recently published builds off a previous study from the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention which addressed nine lifestyle changes that were shown to reduce the risk of dementia by a third. Those changes were a part of this new study as well and included things like midlife hearing loss, depression, a lack of early-childhood education, and smoking.

The three additional lifestyle choices that were included in this study showed that 1% of all dementia cases worldwide, approximately 500,000, are attributed to mid-life excessive alcohol intake. 2% of all dementia cases (~1,000,000) are a result of exposure to air pollution at an older age, and 3% of cases (~1,500,000) are caused by mid-life head injuries. 

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While many of the factors can be taken on in one’s personal life, Livingston believes that it’s mainly up to government officials to implement new systemic changes that can reduce these risks. The report itself includes nine recommendations for the UK government specifically to tackle including improving air quality. 

Livingston also stated that in the past, every decade within the past 30 years has shown a consecutive 15% reduction in dementia risk in North America and Europe likely due to citizens implementing personal lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking. Smoking is thought to be one of the main reasons behind this reduction, as anti-smoking campaigns have grown immensely especially within the last decade. 

Fiona Matthews is a professor of epidemiology, and while she wasn’t involved in the study, she’s studied dementia and the risk-factors for many years. Matthews agrees with Livingston’s point that while there is personal responsibility to make these changes if you’re at risk, the government needs to be doing more to help its citizens do that. 

“Tackling lifestyle risk factors, personally and as a society, remain important, inequalities in population health, as highlighted by Covid-19, should be targeted. The crucial component is the absence of treatments that delay or postpone dementia.” 

The impact of these lifestyle interventions will be greatest among lower to middle class households, due to the fact that they have no control over the societal/world elements that increase the risk of dementia.