Healthy lifestyle could prevent 40% of breast cancer cases, charity says

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 05:49 in Health & Medicine

• Review strengthens link between diet and disease • Breastfeeding plays major role in preventing illness More than four out of 10 cases of breast cancer in the UK could be prevented if women adopted healthier lifestyles, according to a leading medical charity. The estimate, by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), is based on its latest review of global research linking the disease to excessive alcohol intake, lack of exercise and being overweight. Breastfeeding babies also emerges from the study as an important means of reducing the chance of developing breast cancer – a condition that kills about 12,000 women in the UK each year. The compilation of more than 950 research papers from around the world provides the strongest evidence so far that women's lifestyle choices influence the risk of contracting the disease. The report, published today, updates a major cancer prevention study released in 2007 that...

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