You are here: Home » Plus Size News... » Health News » Reduce risk of cancer with healthier lifestyle.
Reduce risk of cancer with healthier lifestyle.
An article by Sarah 
Posted March 17, 2009New research suggests a quarter of bowel cancer cases could be prevented with a healthier lifestyle.
Cancer Research UK has found, one in four cases of bowel cancer could be prevented by 2024 through eating less red meat, increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables and taking more exercise.
The research calculated around 12,000 cases of the disease could be prevented over the next 15 years in the UK by adopting healthier lifestyles. Around one third of cases in men and almost one fifth in women can be prevented with improved health.
Cases of bowel cancer are expected to increase from the current 36,000 cases a year to 46,000 cases a year by 2024, epidemiologist Prof Max Parkin explianed.
He goes on to say: “Around 19,700 men and just over 16,500 women are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year. As people live longer more people can expect to develop the disease in the future but people can change their lifestyles to reduce their risk.
“In the case of bowel cancer this is particularly true of men. We could expect to see a drop of 31 per cent by 2024 if more men watched what they ate and kept an eye on their waistline. And for women we can predict a drop of 18 per cent.”
Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s director of health information, said: “There are many practical things we can all do on a daily basis that will help reduce our bowel cancer risk. Eating sensibly, limiting alcohol, taking exercise and keeping a healthy weight all contribute to this.
“And as the bowel cancer screening programme is implemented throughout the country we will see more bowel cancers detected early bringing a better prognosis for the patient.”
The research published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention shows that if all men in the UK ate no more than three ounces (80 grams) of red meat a day the number of cases of male bowel cancer would be reduced by 14 per cent. For women, who generally eat less red meat than men, there would be a 3 per cent reduction of cases – 640 a year by 2024.
