How can you lower your lifestyle related cancer risk? Almost 9.6 million people die from cancer every year. This means that almost everyone’s lives have been touched by cancer in some capacity. Either yourself, your family member, or your close friend has likely been affected by cancer. Let’s embrace the theme of “I am, and I will”, share our experience and support for the fight against cancer. At least one third of cancers are preventable! Let’s champion healthy behaviours and share how we can support each other to have the best chance to reduce the risk of cancer.

How can lifestyle relate to cancer risk?

Being overweight or obese doesn’t mean that you will definitely get cancer. But it does increase the risk of developing cancer. Research shows that extra fat cells send signals to other cells in our body to divide more often, which in turn can lead to cancer. However, by managing your weight and keeping to a healthy weight, you can reduce your risk of 13 different types of cancers. At Achieve we can offer different courses to support your weight management. Join our FREE 12 week Lose Weight With Achieve programme and we will support you to lose 5% of your body weight. Alternatively you can request FREE vouchers for Slimming World, WW or Man V Fat. Head to our Get Started page to self refer.

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We all know that being active can benefit us in various ways. It’s not just good for our hearts but also helps us lose weight! And as we’ve discussed before, being a healthy weight can reduce our risk of many different kinds of cancer. It is recommended to ensure you are being physically active for 30 min every day! 5 days a week doing something that raises your heart rate, and 2 days where you build your strength. We are what we eat. Our eating and drinking behaviours can affect our health in many different ways. By eating a balanced diet, we can manage our weight and thus reduce our risk of cancer. Drinking alcohol has been linked to 7 different types of cancer such as mouth and upper throat, larynx, oesophagus, breast, liver, and bowel. The nitty gritty of it is that when alcohol is broken down in our bodies it is turned into a substance called acetaldehyde. Too much acetaldehyde can lead to changes in our DNA which increases our risk of cancer. Our Lose Weight With Achieve courses include 30 minutes of physical activity and an hour discussion around nutrition each week to help support your health journey.Two thirds of cancers are caused by factors out of our control like genetics or age, but one third are preventable! Let’s do our best to reduce our lifestyle related risk of cancer with Achieve Oxfordshire by our side!

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References nhs.uk. (n.d.). Cancer. [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/ [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. Cancer Research UK. Diet and cancer. [online] Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. McCarthy, A. (2018) Alcohol and cancer: This is how booze damages DNA inside cells. [online] Cancer Research UK - Science blog. Available at: https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2018/01/03/alcohol-and-cancer-this-is-how-booze-damages-dna-inside-cells/?_ga=2.182149792.608599370.1580046508-1579587574.1579362710 [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. Cancer Research UK.. Obesity, weight and cancer. [online] Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/obesity-weight-and-cancer [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. Cancer Research UK.. Physical activity and cancer. [online] Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/physical-activity-and-cancer [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. Cancer Research UK. Smoking and cancer. [online] Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. Worldcancerday.org. What is cancer? | World Cancer Day. [online] Available at: https://www.worldcancerday.org/what-cancer#_ftn2 [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020].