Читать книгу Textbook of Lifestyle Medicine - Labros S. Sidossis - Страница 35

Cancer covers a wide spectrum of diseases whose typical characteristic is abnormal cellular growth, exceeding the normal rate of cellular proliferation. Other terms used for cancer include malignant tumors and neoplasms. According to the WHO, cancer constitutes the second‐leading cause of death on a global scale – one out of six death events occurring globally is attributed to cancer. Epidemiological data show that males are mostly affected by lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancers, whereas females are more susceptible to breast, colorectal, lung, cervix, and stomach malignancies.

In addition to the health burden of the disease, cancer incurs a significant economic burden, over 1.5 trillion US dollars in 2020. Given that 30–50% of cancer incidence may be preventable, it is obvious that we should urgently employ preventive strategies to constrain cancer incidence. Raising public awareness regarding the risk factors associated with cancer development and providing people with sufficient information and resources to enhance compliance with healthy lifestyle behaviors stand at the forefront of cancer prevention. The major risk factors for cancer onset include consumption of tobacco products, excessive alcohol intake, unhealthy body weight, physical inactivity, and certain infections and occupational/environmental chemical exposures.