People with cancer can now expect to live longer – but are we missing the point?
What the headlines are not saying is that more people than ever are being diagnosed with cancer. In the UK, one in every two people born after 1960 will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. The number of people living with cancer in the UK is increasing by 3.2 per cent every year. Part of the reason is that we are living longer but lifestyle and diet is playing a part too.
The World Health Organisation warns that poor diets account for around 30 per cent of cancers in western countries making diet second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of cancer. A large body of evidence shows how meat and dairy foods increase the risk of cancer while a vegan diet (containing plenty of fruit, vegetables, pulses – peas, beans and lentils, wholegrain foods, nuts and seeds) can lower the risk of cancer and other diseases. Two key studies show that vegetarians have an 8-11 per cent lower risk of cancer and vegans, a 16-19 per cent lower risk.
To find out more about how you can lower your risk of cancer see Viva!’s Incredible Health Report.
Links to the news:
Guardian: Thousands of cancer sufferers surviving decades after diagnosis
Telegraph: Quarter of cancer patients diagnosed in 80s still suffering ill-effects
Additional notes and links to the science:
The study from the University of Oxford included 61,647 British men and women (32,491 meat-eaters, 8,612 fish-eaters, 18,298 vegetarians and 2,246 vegans) among whom there were 4,998 cases of cancer. Results showed that compared with meat-eaters, cancer incidence was 12 per cent lower in fish-eaters, 11 per cent lower in vegetarians and 19 per cent lower in vegans.
Key TJ, Appleby PN, Crowe FL, Bradbury KE, Schmidt JA and Travis RC. 2014. Cancer in British vegetarians: updated analyses of 4998 incident cancers in a cohort of 32,491 meat eaters, 8612 fish eaters, 18,298 vegetarians, and 2246 vegans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 100 (1 Suppl) 378S-385S.
The results of the US Adventist Health Study II (AHS-2) were similar with total cancer risk significantly lower in vegetarians and vegans than in meat-eaters. This included 69,120 people among whom 2,939 cancer cases were identified during an average of four years. Vegetarians had an eight per cent lower risk of cancer and vegans had a 16 per cent lower risk. In addition to this, vegan women experienced 34 per cent fewer female-specific cancers.
Tantamango-Bartley Y, Jaceldo-Siegl K, Fan J and Fraser G. 2013. Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population. Cancer Epidemiology and Biomarkers Prevention. 22 (2) 286-294.
About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.
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