About 25 percent of cancers could be prevented by improvements in diet and exercise, a new Australian study has found.
Research conducted by the Medical Journal of Australia found that the incidence of cancer in Australia is likely to increase to 170,000 per year by 2025, a rise of nearly 60 percent since 2007.
Of those cancers, 43,000 could be prevented by simple changes in diet and physical activity, saving an estimated $674 million per year in health care costs.
Related: What to eat to avoid cancer
The study took projected cancer rates and combined them with previous research on the impact of nutrition, exercise and obesity on cancer incidences.
It found that healthier eating and increased physical activity could potentially prevent tens of thousands of cancers every year.
Bowel cancer was found to be the most preventable, followed by female breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and mouth and laryngeal cancer.
The latest figures show that almost 92 percent of Australians do not consume the recommended five serves of vegetables per day.
Obesity levels have increased to 62 percent, while harmful alcohol consumption has increased to 61 percent.
Researchers say protecting yourself from these cancers could be as simple as increasing your consumption of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains and eating less saturated fat.
Alarmingly, the study also found poorer people were at higher risk of cancer because they were statistically more likely to be obese, eat unhealthily and shun exercise.
“Increasingly, the poor are becoming obese faster than the rich,” the study reads. “The combined burden of obesity, poor diet and reduced physical activity is growing among the poor.
“In one survey, adults in rural and remote areas were more likely to have consumed fats and oils and those living in the most disadvantaged areas had the lowest average intake of vegetable products and dishes.”
Related: Soft drinks linked to heart disease
The report recommends government funding be dedicated to improving the diets and activity levels of all citizens.
“With an estimated 25 percent of cancers preventable through improvements in diet and physical activity, governments at all levels must act now, and act vigorously, in order to reduce the significant human and financial burden of cancer in the future,” the study concludes.
Your say: Would you eat healthier food if it lowered your risk of cancer?
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