Healthier Lifestyles Could Cut Cancer Deaths by Half
The team of researchers, from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, looked at data from two study groups of white participants to examine the possible associations between a “healthy lifestyle pattern” and the rate of cancer cases and deaths from the disease — the leading cause of death in the United States.
They defined a “healthy lifestyle pattern” as being a non-smoker or ex-smoker; no alcohol or moderate drinking of alcohol (one or less drink a day for women, two or less drinks a day for men); having a BMI of between 18.5 and 27.5,; and partaking in moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes a week or vigorous exercise for at least 75 minutes a week.
The study included 89,571 women and 46,399 men in total.
Everyone else — 73,040 women and 34,608 men — was considered high risk.
The authors then compared the number of cancer cases and cancer deaths between the two study groups and against the US population to estimate the proportion of cancer that could be prevented in the high-risk group if individuals adopted the healthy lifestyle pattern of the low-risk group, and the proportion that could be prevented in the US population.
The study was published online in the journal JAMA Oncology.