This Figure Shows What Is Really Important for Cancer Prevention.
A healthy lifestyle can help prevent cancer. (However, no cancer is completely preventable; genetics and bad luck are also factors.) But what lifestyle factors really matter? The World Cancer Research Foundation has a handy timeline to point them out.
The only things that significantly reduce the risk of cancer are physical activity (which reduces the risk of colorectal cancer) and walking (which reduces weight gain, and some cancers are associated with weight gain). The next row of circles in the diagram are things that are strongly associated with cancer risk, including eating vegetables, breastfeeding, and a few simple things related to healthy eating and exercise. (Here they explain how they evaluated the evidence .) The size of each circle indicates how many cases of cancer it might affect, so larger circles are the ones that might matter most to your risk.
Things get even darker at the lower levels of the graph. Vitamin D falls into the “restrictedly suggestive” category, which means there is some evidence that it may help prevent colorectal cancer, but that is not enough to be sure. The table then shows things that can increase your risk of cancer. Among the things that significantly increase the risk are alcoholic beverages, obesity in adulthood, arsenic in drinking water, and high-dose beta-carotene supplements.
Some factors increase the risk of one cancer but decrease the risk of others. For example, obesity in an adult may reduce the risk of premenopausal breast cancer but increase the risk of other cancers. (You can view a summary table of the most compelling evidence here .)
You can’t completely outsmart cancer, but this tool can help you understand which factors have the most evidence linking them to cancer risk. And if you want an even simpler breakdown of what you should do to reduce your risk, the World Cancer Research Foundation offers a list of recommendations here . Here are the main points:
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- The exercise.
- There are vegetables.
- Limit fast food.
- Limit red and processed meats.
- Limit sugary drinks.
- Limit your alcohol intake.
- Don’t rely on supplements.
- Breastfeed your baby if you can.
Interactive Cancer Risk Matrix | World Cancer Research Foundation