Diet, Alcohol Linked to Nearly 1/3 of Cancer Cases
Tue May 18, 2004 11:11 AM ET
By Patricia Reaney
HARROGATE, England (Reuters) - Diet is second only to tobacco as a leading cause of cancer and, along with alcohol, is responsible for nearly a third of cases of the disease in developed countries, a leading researcher said on Tuesday.
Dr Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, told a cancer conference that scientists are still discovering how certain foods contribute to cancer but they know that diet, alcohol and obesity play a major role.
"Five percent of cancers could be avoided if nobody was obese," he said.
While tobacco is linked to about 30 percent of cancer cases, diet is involved in an estimated 25 percent and alcohol in about six percent.
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5180610