Other Ways to Reduce Cancer Risk

You can reduce your risk of getting cancer in a variety of ways, including keeping a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, limiting the amount of alcohol you drink, and protecting your skin from the sun.

Keeping a Healthy Weight

Research has shown that being overweight or obese substantially raises a person's risk of getting endometrial (uterine), breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29, and obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher.¹ Learn how to choose a healthy diet at Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight, and read about exercise at Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight.

Avoiding Tobacco

Cigarette Smoking
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, and cigarette smoking causes almost all cases. Compared to nonsmokers, men who smoke are about 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer and women who smoke are about 13 times more likely. Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and almost 80% in women. Smoking also causes cancer of the voicebox (larynx), mouth and throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach, and causes acute myeloid leukemia.²

Visit smokefree.gov to learn how you can quit smoking.

Secondhand Smoke
Adults who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20% to 30%. Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are higher in secondhand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers.³

Limiting Alcohol Intake

Studies around the world have shown that drinking alcohol regularly increases the risk of getting mouth, voice box, and throat cancers. Daily consumption of around 50g of alcohol doubles or triples the risk for these cancers, compared with the risk in nondrinkers.⁴

A large number of studies provide strong evidence that drinking alcohol is a risk factor for primary liver cancer, and more than 100 studies have found an increased risk of breast cancer with increasing alcohol intake. The link between alcohol consumption and colorectal (colon) cancer has been reported in more than 50 studies.⁴

For information about alcohol and your health, visit the National Institutes of Health's Rethinking Drinking Web site.

Protecting Your Skin from the Sun

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays appears to be the most important environmental factor involved with developing skin cancer. To help prevent skin cancer while still having fun outdoors, protect yourself by seeking shade, applying sunscreen, and wearing sun-protective clothing, a hat, and sunglasses. For more information, visit Skin Cancer Prevention.

References

¹National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Obesity Education Initiative. Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: The Evidence Report. [PDF-1.25MB]

²U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General—Smoking Among Adults in the United States: Cancer. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.

³U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General—6 Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General Report. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.

⁴Baan R, Straif K, Grosse Y, Secretan B, El Ghissassi F, Bouvard V, Altieri A, Cogliano V; WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph Working Group. Carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages. [PDF-58KB] Lancet Oncology 2007;8:292–293.