Planet cancer: 21st-century life blamed as cases soar

THE number of cases of cancer worldwide has increased by a fifth in just six years, with fears that rates will soar further with disease caused by unhealthy lifestyles, experts have warned.

Figures estimated that there were more than 12.6 million cancer cases diagnosed around the globe in 2008 – up from about ten million in 2002. The figure is expected to rise to 21 million by 2030.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said it believed that 2.8 million cases of cancer are linked to poor diet, lack of exercise and being overweight – a figure expected to rise dramatically in the next decade.

It has previously been estimated that 80,000 cancer cases a year in the UK could be prevented if people watched their diet, weight and alcohol intake and took regular exercise.

The figures were highlighted ahead of a United Nations summit on non-communicable diseases happening later this month.

Yesterday, campaigners said that the world had a “once in a generation” chance to avoid a public health disaster with the summit, which will cover diseases such as heart disease and diabetes as well as cancer.

WCRF said the number of cancers that could potentially be prevented was expected to rise dramatically over the next ten years. The number of cancer cases is also influenced by the growing world population, as well as people living longer.

Professor Martin Wiseman, WCRF medical and scientific adviser, said: “Cancer and other lifestyle-related diseases are one of the biggest challenges we face today and the summit later this month is a real turning point.

“With millions of lives at risk around the world, the stakes are incredibly high. And while this is an issue facing millions globally, every day in the UK people are being diagnosed with a cancer that could have been prevented.

“Yet many people are still unaware that risk factors such as alcohol and obesity affect cancer risk, while from television advertising to the pricing of food, our society works in a way that discourages people from adopting healthy habits.

“But this summit offers the chance to look at public health issues at the international level.”

Rates of cancer tend to be higher in richer countries but are also increasing in the developing world.

Figures show that the UK ranks 22nd out of 50 in a global chart of the number of cancer cases per 100,000 people with 267 cases per 100,000 – more than Spain, France, Croatia, Sweden and Finland. Denmark has the highest rate with 326 cases per 100,00, followed by Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The United States ranks sixth, with 300 cases per 100,000.

Part of the reason for higher rates in some countries including the UK is better cancer registries for recording cases. But in many cases it’s down to unhealthy lifestyle.

According to the figures published by WCRF, the ten most common cancers worldwide are lung (1,608,055), breast (1,384,155), bowel (1,235,108), stomach (988,602), prostate (899,102), cervical (530,232), oesophagus (481,645), liver (479,744), bladder (382,660) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (356,431).

The charity said that a failure to develop robust global and national policy for preventing non-communicable diseases would lead to millions of preventable deaths from cancer as well as other causes.

Dr Kate Allen, director of science for WCRF, added: “We tend to think of cancer and other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes as largely being a problem for the developed world.

“But even poor countries are seeing increasing obesity rates as people eat more processed food and become less active. Already there are seven million cancer cases diagnosed a year in the developing world and that is likely to rise dramatically.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said action was already being taken to tackle cancer, including efforts to address obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption.

“However, we are determined to do more to meet the challenge posed by rising cancer rates – in particular to take action on cancer survival,” she said.

“That’s why we are placing a new emphasis on diagnosing and detecting cancer earlier through the range of proposals set out in our £30 million Detect Cancer Early Draft Implementation Plan, published last month.”

Campaigners yesterday also expressed concern about food and drink companies being involved in helping develop health policy during the UN summit because of conflicts of interest.

Paul Lincoln, from the UK Chronic Disease and Development Task Force, said: “One of our big asks is, don’t let some of these industries derail or dilute the outcomes of this UN high-level meeting.

“What we need is a firewall so that these industries are not involved in the development of policy and strategy, because clearly they have other interests.”