Michael P. Osborne, MD

CEO/President Strang Cancer Prevention Center

On Diet and Cancer

The majority of cancer is related to lifestyle and therefore may be preventable. Good nutrition and exercise are of paramount importance. Worldwide it is estimated that approximately 7.6 million people will develop cancer and 5 million will die of the disease annually. In the United States, more than 2 million develop cancer each year and about 560,000 die of the disease.

One in two men and one in three women develop cancer in their lifetime. For the first time it is projected that more people wilt develop cancer than heart disease in the next millennium.

Research studies over the past fifty years have clearly shown that exercise and healthy nutrition are key factors in the prevention of cancer as well as cardiovascular disease.

It is estimated that diet and obesity are responsible for about 30 percent of all cancer deaths while sedentary lifestyle is responsible for about 5 percent, thirty-three percent of cancer deaths would be prevented by cessation of smoking and reduction in alcohol intake.

Understanding of the risk factors and modification of lifestyle will do a great deal to lessen the individual risk of disease. The last half of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century have seen the conquest of a major scourge of the human race, infection, by prevention and treatment. Today the challenge is prevention of cancer and heart disease, both of which will be largely eliminated through changes in lifestyle behaviors.