4 out of 10 cancers could be avoided!

A number of cancers are related to our lifestyle and the environment, it would be possible to avoid 4 out of 10 warns Public Health France in its latest weekly epidemiological bulletin.

Such is one of the conclusions of a large study whose objective was to estimate the share and the number of cancers attributable to lifestyle or environmental risk factors in adults living in Metropolitan France. 19659003] After badyzing the results, the researchers estimated that 41% of adult cancers in France in 2015 were attributable to modifiable risk factors, about 142 000 cases (84 000 in men and 58 000 in women) . The two main causes were smoking and alcohol, both for men and women. The third cause was in men, food, and in women overweight and obesity.

In detail, and among the 346 000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in adults in France in 2015, 142 000 would be attributable to the risk factors studied, or 41% of all new cancer cases.

Tobacco was responsible for the largest number of cases (20%), with more than 68,000 new cases attributable to smoking, all locations combined. Then came alcohol, diet and overweight and obesity, responsible for 8.0%, 5.4% and 5.4% of all new cases of cancer, respectively.

For the authors of the study there is no doubt that a significant part of these cancers in France would be avoided if exposure to environmental factors and lifestyle studied was reduced to an optimal level. And hope that these results can form a basis for future targeted cancer prevention actions in order to reduce their number in France.

Alcohol consumption is the cause of seven types of cancer

And While alcohol use is the second leading cause of cancer deaths according to this report, let us return to this study, published in July 2016, that suggests that alcohol use is responsible for seven types of cancer.

You probably will not be surprised by the findings of this study on alcohol use and the cancer risks it causes. Not surprised because the message is anything but new. Keep it for yourself, alcohol is a risk factor for cancer. If you have a good memory you may remember that in 2011 already a German team from the Potsdam-Rehbruecke Institute of Human Nutrition delivered the same message when it came to the conclusion that about 10% of all cancers in men and 3% of women's cancers were directly related to alcohol consumption.

Almost 2 years ago Jennie Connor, a researcher at the University of Otago, New Zealand, about the same discourse: the consumption of alcohol, even in small quantities, is the cause of the occurrence of different cancers, 7 to be more precise: oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum and bad

Before coming to this conclusion, she scrutinized the habits of more than a million British women over a period of seven years. It is clear that those who consumed 70 and 140 g of alcohol per week (which may seem very little) have a 13% higher risk of developing bad cancer, 5% higher for other types of cancer. [19659003] And inevitably the more you drink, the greater the risks: "The higher the consumption, the higher the risks, but the impact of alcohol on small consumers remains considerable given its place in society", explained the researcher

The "good" news because there is one, it is that this threat would be reversible on condition of stopping definitively. After 20 years of weaning, the risk would completely disappear.

Specifying that alcohol was responsible for 5.8% of cancer-related deaths, Jennie Connor then spoke about these famous studies that extol the benefits of wine and especially one of its molecules, resveratrol *, especially on heart health … Studies that failed to convince her after she also examined the connection between alcohol and the good functioning of the heart … "For the moment the proofs are rather weak" she insisted

* This substance presents naturally in the wine (but also in certain fruits like the red grapes, the blackberries , peanuts …) is known for its antioxidant properties. In recent years several studies have come to the conclusion that resveratrol may also have a protective effect against diabetes, cancer, obesity or even Alzheimer's disease.