Once again, it turns out that a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of cancer

Those who adhere to recommendations for cancer prevention have a lower risk of developing fourteen types of lifestyle-related cancer. It sounds obvious, but the researchers felt it was necessary to stress that this also applies to the most recent guidelines issued in 2018. They wrote that BMC Medicine.

These are recommendations from the World Cancer Research Fund and its American sister organization. Since 2018, these have been slightly different from the 2007 version. For example, the phrase “Eat less salt” has been removed and the phrase “Limit sweetened beverage consumption” has been added. You should also eat more fiber now. Widespread is advice: Do not gain weight, eat healthy food, reduce alcohol and fast food, and exercise enough.

The researchers used data from about 95,000 British adults with an average age of 65 and looked at their self-reported eating and exercise habits, body mass index and waist circumference. Those who adhered to the recommendations best received a maximum of 7 points. The average was 3.8.

Of the entire group, 8% developed cancer within 8 years. For every point people scored higher in following the recommendations, their risk of developing cancer decreased by 7 percent. People in the group with the best scores (of 4.5 points) were 16 percent less likely to develop cancer than the group with the unhealthy lifestyle (3.5 points or less). In some types of cancer, the benefit is greater, such as liver, ovarian, and gallbladder cancer.