by The review also found that people who followed cancer prevention guidelines for diet and activity were up to 61 percent less likely to die from cancer, the researchers reported.
“Overall, we saw there is quite a reduction in getting cancer or dying from cancer if you follow [cancer-prevention] guidelines,” said lead researcher Lindsay Kohler, a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
Healthy living is particularly effective in preventing breast, endometrial and colon cancer, Kohler and her colleagues found.
Living right can reduce risk of breast cancer by 19 percent to 60 percent, endometrial cancer by 23 percent to 60 percent, and colon cancer in men and women by 27 percent to 52 percent, they reported.
“Those cancers have been shown in other studies to be related to obesity,” Kohler said. “Most of these guidelines are going to help prevent you from being obese.”
Nearly 1.7 million new cases of cancer are expected to occur in the United States in 2016, and about 596,000 people are expected to die from cancer, the researchers said in background information.
Eating poorly, drinking too much alcohol, carrying too much weight and being a couch potato could account for more than 20 percent of cancer cases, researchers said.
To see whether a healthy lifestyle would result in fewer cancer cases and deaths, the researchers reviewed 12 studies that examined the effectiveness of prevention guidelines published by the American Cancer Society and the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research.
These guidelines recommend lifestyle changes such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, choosing whole grains over refined grains, limiting consumption of processed or red meat, avoiding excess alcohol, and eating five or more servings of a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables every day.
