Smoking, infections, and alcohol are wreaking havoc on our global health, and a groundbreaking study in Nature Medicine is laying out the numbers to prove it. Nearly 40% of new cancer cases in 2022 were preventable. That’s a staggering 7.1 million diagnoses worldwide directly tied to modifiable risk factors.
Tobacco leads this regrettable charge, contributing to 15% of preventable cases. Infections come next with 10%, followed by alcohol at 3%. Lung, stomach, and cervical cancers make up nearly half of these cases.
Cancer remains a top killer, and cases are expected to rise if we don’t tackle these modifiable risks head-on. Hanna Fink, a co-author of the study, emphasizes that avoiding these risk factors is crucial to reversing this trend. The research examined 185 countries and highlighted 30 well-established causes, focusing not just on deaths but actual cases—a first of its kind at this scale.
Let’s face it—our lifestyle choices are punching above their weight in contributing to global cancer cases. Time to pack those bad habits away for good and turn the tide on this preventable plight.
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