Four common lifestyle factors are responsible for the majority of cardiovascular diseases in the world —  tobacco, diet, alcohol, and obesity. However, cancer has now replaced cardiovascular diseases as the number one killer in that country. If this is an indicator of things to come, the number one killer in the developed world will soon be cancer.

A recent report from the Queen Mary University, London, United Kingdom, suggests that the same four lifestyle factors are also responsible for about 40% of all cancers. In a comprehensive review of cancer and lifestyles, published in a supplement to the December issue of the British Journal of Cancer, Dr. Max Parkin suggests that about 40% of all cancers can be prevented by following a healthy lifestyle. Tobacco was the major risk factor in both men and women- attributing to 23% risk in men and 25.6% risk in women.  Other risk factors in men were inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables (6.1%), occupational exposure to cancer causing chemicals such as asbestos (4.9%), excessive alcohol intake (4.6%), overweight and obesity (4.1%) and excessive sun exposure and sunbeds (3.5%). In women the risk factors were overweight and obesity (6.9%), infections such as human papillomavirus infection or HPV (3.7%), excessive sun exposure and sunbeds (3.6%), lack of fruits and vegetables in the diet (3.4%) and excessive alcohol intake (3.3%).

For certain cancers, such as lung cancer, lifestyle factors accounted for 89.2% of all cases.

Both men and women have the power to change these lifestyles and decrease their risk of cancer by almost 40%.