Cancer Prevention Blog

A new study was covered in the press yesterday that seems to suggest men who are overweight when they are 18 years old are significantly more likely to die from cancer.

This is an unusual study in that it followed people from early adulthood right the way through to the ends of their lives.

There is already a lot of research showing that excess body fat increases risk of a number of types of cancer. In fact, scientists now say that, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention.

But most … Continue Reading

Fruits and vegetables: are some better than others?

Many of us will have woken up on New Year’s Day with a renewed interest in making healthy lifestyle changes.

So it was with perfect timing that on January 1 the Guardian published Dr Tom Smith’s “prescription for 2011”, packed with tips for how we can “extend our lives and improve our health”.

Unfortunately, we would disagree with a lot of the advice. From a cancer … Continue Reading

Obesity: a cancer risk factor

A new report that includes obesity statistics for the European Union makes depressing reading.

It has found that 25% of adults in the UK are obese, which is the highest proportion in Europe.

The European Union average is 15%, with other poorly performing countries including Ireland, Malta, Iceland and Luxembourg.

There are, of course, lots of reasons why high obesity levels are bad news. But from our perspective, higher levels of obesity … Continue Reading

Waist size: linked to cancer

There is an interesting article on the NHS Choices website responding to this week’s news coverage about a study suggesting people with large waists are at risk of dying young.

Cancer is one of the diseases identified as being linked to a large waistline.

This fits with the findings of the Expert Report World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) published in 2007, the biggest ever review of the evidence on how cancer risk is … Continue Reading