For Immediate Release: July 22, 2009
Contact: Mya Rae Nelson 202-328-7744 x221

New Study Supports AICR Estimates of Cancer Preventability

A major new study from Germany echoes AICR’s findings that living a healthy lifestyle can prevent about one-third of the most common cancers and suggests the most common and deadly chronic diseases are largely preventable.

The advice is familiar eat healthfully, be physically active, stay a healthy weight, and don’t smoke but now a new study provides added incentives to follow the recommended guidelines. People who follow all four of these guidelines, the study suggests, have almost an 80 percent reduced risk of developing the most common chronic diseases: heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Published in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine, the study gathered diet and lifestyle data from approximately 25,000 Germans ages 35 to 65, who completed their responses at the start of the study in the mid-1990s. The authors then examined their responses in relation to four healthy lifestyle factors: never smoking, having a BMI lower than 30, exercising at least 3.5 hours per week, and following a healthy diet, such as consuming relatively high amounts of fruits and vegetables and low amounts of meat.

After an average of 7.8 years, the study found that following all four lifestyle factors was linked to a 93 percent reduced risk of diabetes, 81 percent reduced risk of heart attack, 50 percent reduced risk of stroke and 36 percent reduced risk of cancer. Each lifestyle factor by itself was also associated with reducing the risk of each of the chronic diseases (see chart), with a BMI under 30 exerting the largest reduction in risk.

For cancer, the results of this large study are strikingly similar to the findings from AICR’s 2009 Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention. The AICR report estimated that in the United States and other developed countries, about one-third of the most common cancers can be preventedthrough diet, physical activity and weight management. The report also breaks down preventability estimates for specific cancers.

With repeated studies showing that most Americans do not maintain healthy lifestyle patterns (or a healthy weight), the opportunities to improve many of the lifestyle behaviors abound, note the authors.

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The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on the relationship of nutrition, physical activity and weight management to cancer risk, interprets the scientific literature and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $91 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR has published two landmark reports that interpret the accumulated research in the field, and is committed to a process of continuous review. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.