40% of many common cancers are avoidable

É possível prevenir
Ao contrário do senso comum, a maioria dos cânceres não são inevitáveis: essa é a conclusão de uma pesquisa divulgada recentemente pelo World Cancer Research Fund, que analisou dados referentes a Reino Unido, Estados Unidos, China e Brasil. Apesar de reconhecer a importância da carga genética, a pesquisa mostra que, em média, mais de 40% dos casos - incluindo cânceres de mama, intestino e estômago - poderiam ser evitados a partir de estilos e condições de vida mais saudáveis.
É a partir dessa relação que se explicam os índices encontrados para cada país: enquanto no Reino Unido 26% dos cânceres são evitáveis, o índice brasileiro cai para 19%.

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40% of many common cancers are avoidable, says reportBuzz up!
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Sarah Boseley, health editor The Guardian, Friday 27 February 2009 Article historyMore than 40% of some of the most common cancers, including those of the breast, bowel and stomach, could be prevented if we all had healthier lifestyles, a major report said yesterday.

Contrary to popular belief, most cancer is not inevitable, says the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) report. A quarter of all cancers in the UK (26%) could be prevented. That rises to three-quarters of oesophageal cancers, 67% of mouth, pharynx and larynx cancers and 56% of cancers of the lining of the womb.

Our lifestyles, junk food habits, drinking and lack of exercise lie behind much of the epidemic, the fund says. Genes play a part, but often a minor one.

Overall, more cancers are preventable in the UK than in the three other countries studied for the report. In the UK, 26% are preventable, in the US 24%, in China 20% and in Brazil 19%. The authors say increased drinking in the UK is a major reason. "Over time, the UK has experienced the most amazing increase in alcohol consumption over the last 20 years of any country on the planet," said Professor Elio Riboli, head of the division of epidemiology, public health and primary care at Imperial College's faculty of medicine.

A WCRF report in 2007 identified alcohol as a factor in more than 40% of mouth and throat cancers. Reducing drinking could prevent 22% of breast cancers, 7% of bowel cancers and 17% of liver cancers, according to the fund. The eating of red and processed meat is implicated in 5% and 10% of bowel cancers, while excess body fat is significant in many cancers.

But the individual who eats the wrong foods, drinks too much and puts on weight is not solely to blame, said Professor Sir Michael Marmot, chair of the panel that prepared the report. The social, economic and environmental conditions in which we live make it hard to lead a healthier life - and improving those conditions is part of the solution. "If the causes of our patterns of eating and obesity are social, economic and environmental, then so might the solutions be."

He pointed to cycleways, which could help people get fit on the way to work. "In Copenhagen, 38% of journeys to work are done by bicycle because it is safe," he said. Social disadvantage is also a major problem. Sir Michael, research professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London and chair of the World Health Organisation's commission on the social determinants of health, pointed out that obesity is most prevalent in poor areas, where junk food outlets abound.

The report calls on a range of bodies, from government to schools to individuals, to take action. It says schools should provide only healthy food and abandon vending machines, and that employers should consider how to help staff cycle or walk to work. The government could increase tax on alcohol and introduce clear food labelling.

BBC