Lifestyle cancers soar by 70% in a decade from binge drinking and poor diet


  • Men diagnosed with liver cancer rose by 70% and women 60% in 2002-13
  • Worrying surge caused by poor Western lifestyle
  • Alcohol, obesity and hepatitis B singled out as main causes of liver cancer 
  • Warning about young women drinking a bottle of wine a night 

By
Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

Cases of liver cancer have soared by up to 70 per cent in a decade, fuelled by poor diet, obesity and binge drinking.

Between 2003 and 2012, the number of men diagnosed with liver cancer soared by 70 per cent and among women by 60 per cent.

It means it is now the 18th most common cancer in England, as people pay the price for eating and drinking too much.

Overall the total number of cancer cases rose by 25 per cent between 2003-13 to 360,000, the Office for National Statistics said.

But liver cancer recorded a huge rise, blamed on unhealthy lifestyles leading to health problems.

The ONS said: ‘Since 2003, there have been large increases in the number of registrations of liver, oral, uterine and kidney cancers, and malignant melanoma of the skin.

‘These cancers are strongly linked to lifestyle choices, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity.’

Since 2003 liver cancer incidence increased by 70 per cent among men to 2,449 and 60 per cent among women to 1,418.

The main risk factors for developing liver cancer are hepatitis B or C infection, accounting for well over 80 per cent of liver cancer cases worldwide. But alcohol consumption and diabetes are also risk factors.

The figures sparked a warning that many young women drink most of a bottle of wine most nights without recognising the health impact

Andrew Langford, chief executive of the Liver Disease Trust, said the figures were worrying but not surprising as they formed part of a long-term trend.

He called for action to tackle drinking, obesity and the lack of awareness about hepatitis B.

‘People do associate liver disease with alcohol but then think its only alcoholics that may get liver disease.

‘It is more than dangerous heavy drinking that is causing the biggest burden of liver disease.’

He warned it was easy to ‘slip into that heavy-drinking lifestyle’.

‘People have only got to drink more than a third of the bottle of wine and they are drinking more than their daily allowance.

‘There is the new trend of particularly women who open a bottle of wine most nights and drink most of it.

‘We have got to start doing more about tackling these issues, not only about what people are eating but also exercise and trying to keep their BMI down.’

He also warned that because Britain does not routinely vaccinate for hepatitis B, unlike other countries, the problem is getting worse.

‘It is really Russian roulette. Some people will live with hepatitis B and it won’t affect them too much, and others it will inevitably end in liver failure and liver cancer.’

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females, accounting for just under one-in-three newly diagnosed cases of cancer in 2012, the ONS said.

While age is the biggest factor, more than a quarter female breast cancer in the UK are linked to lifestyle and environmental factors, such as alcohol consumption, obesity, lack of physical activity, and hormonal and reproductive .

 

Comments (104)

what you think

The comments below have not been moderated.

sunlover,

exeter, United Kingdom,

8 minutes ago

and they expect the NHS to put it all right when they’ve abuse them selves left right centre

Jen,

Manchester, United Kingdom,

15 minutes ago

There are so many factors that may produce cancer e.g genes, diet, exercise, immunity and age. I have come to the conclusion that you can not guarantee you won’t get it at some point in your life no matter what you do. II think the key is moderation but to be honest we are all going to die of something!!

Claire Sudwell,

Sliema, Malta,

17 minutes ago

It’s hardly surprising from the UK. It’s all fried food, lots of mayonnaise and sauces. Add beer and cigarettes and there you go.

JANGAR1,

LEIC, United Kingdom,

29 minutes ago

We had some lunch in a café today. We had a filled baked potato (no butter!) and salad. A visibly overweight young woman came in – and what did she choose? A piece of CAKE!

Jo,

London, United Kingdom,

moments ago

Shock horror.

JustAnotherPasserby,

London,

31 minutes ago

Smoking ban has had no impact..the liars who lied now want to blame something else so the NHS Marxists can get the law changed.

Mattevo,

Norwich, United Kingdom,

35 minutes ago

Have you seen what’s available to us in supermarket shelves. Healthy food is a preserve for the rich

Dan Plantagenet,

London, United Kingdom,

39 minutes ago

“Don’t worry about your death, worry about your life”

Were too soft,

Dartford, United Kingdom,

45 minutes ago

Maybe they’ve made the Country so awful, you have to drink.

surrey17,

woking, United Kingdom,

47 minutes ago

Why it is so hard to accept we are obese , drink too much , eat junk food .

We are the obesity capital of europe . We drink ourselves senseless . We do not take care to eat enough vetetables cooked properly or organic food or meat from grass fed animals .

It is important to take responsibility for our own health . We can not go on blaming everything and everybody else .

awake,

Edinburgh,

48 minutes ago

We are being soft killed by all the toxins. It’s a slow business but just research the way stats for the following have multiplied hundreds sometimes thousands of percent in the last 20 years. cancer, autism, Chrone’s disease, auto-immuine disorders, peanut allergies etc etc etc…

They are killing us for profits. Join the dots people. We need to take action and not just go like lambs to the slaughter. The powers that be never eat GMO.

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