London, Aug 2 (IANS) British women are more likely to develop cancer by the age of 75 than the average European woman, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said in a latest research.
On an average, one-fifth of women across Europe will develop cancer by the age of 75. But in Britain, around a quarter of women will suffer from a form of cancer. This is because of growing rates of obesity and alcohol consumption in the country, Sky News reported.
Though experts say genetics play a large role in people getting cancer, they also believe a third of the most common forms could be avoided if people eat healthy food and do exercises.
Being physically active and eating a healthy ‘plant-based diet’, without too much salt or red and processed meat, can make a difference.
For breast cancer – the most common in women – experts say around four in 10 cases could be prevented purely through lifestyle changes.
‘As a country, we tend to be more overweight than the European average and we tend to drink more alcohol; so it is not entirely surprising that the results are what they are,’ Richard Evans from the World Cancer Research Fund was quoted as saying.
Paul Moss, head of the Cancer Research UK Centre, said: ‘We think a lot about heart disease but we tend not to think too much about the cancer risk when it comes to diet.’
