Lifestyle choices people make and that society can influence in a number of ways, from tobacco use to diet and exercise, play a significant role in causing cancer, as it was published in The Times of India.
Specifically, the researchers cite data demonstrating that smoking alone is responsible for a third of all cancer cases in the United States.
Excess body weight and obesity account for another 20 per cent.
However, beyond individual habits, the structure of society itself – from medical research funding to building design and food subsidies – influences the extent of the cancer burden and need tp be changed to reduce it.
The obstacles to implementing broad cancer prevention strategies are skepticism that cancer can be prevented, short-term focus of cancer research, intervening too late in life to prevent cancer, research focussing on treatment, not prevention and many others.
One example is the relatively quick elimination of unhealthy trans fats from the national diet. And the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has reported that lung cancer rates are declining in both men and women, supporting the benefits of tighter tobacco control policy.
If we want to change health, we need to change policy. Stricter tobacco policy is a good example. But we can’t make policy change on our own. We can tell the story, but it requires a critical mass of people to talk more forcefully about the need for change.
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