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Vrouwen hebben door gezonde levenstijl wel 40% minder kans op
kanker.*
Uit een 13 jarige studie onder ruim 29.000 vrouwen in de
leeftijd van 55 tot 69 jaar blijkt dat een ongezonde levensstijl leidt
tot 35% meer kans op het krijgen van kanker en 42% meer kans op het overlijden
aan kanker. Een gezonde levensstijl betekent: BMI waarde max. 25 (kijk bij voedingsadvies
en de test voor gewicht), niet roken, dagelijks bewegen, dagelijks
voldoende groente en fruit, max. 1 glas alcohol per dag, max. 80 gram rood
vlees per dag, max. 30% van de dagelijkse caloriën als vet en beperkte
zoutinname..
Post-menopausal women who
follow recommended dietary and lifestyle guidelines may reduce their risk of
developing and dying from cancer, with those in highest compliance
experiencing the best outcomes
Conversely, those women who
followed one or none of the nine recommended guidelines for diet and lifestyle
had a 35 percent higher risk of developing cancer and a 42 percent greater
risk of dying from cancer than women who adhered to at least six of the
recommendations considered for the study.
The study, published in the
July issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, examined data
collected from 29,564 women, aged 55 to 69 upon entry into the study, who were
followed over a 13-year period to determine the impact of dietary lifestyle
factors on the incidence and death rate from cancer.
“Our study suggests that
older women may be able to have a fairly large impact on their cancer risk by
not smoking, controlling body weight, exercising and eating a healthy,
balanced diet. Besides having an impact for individuals, following these
recommendations would also have a large impact on reducing cancer in our
communities as a whole” said James R. Cerhan, M.D., Ph.D., associate
professor of epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester,
Minn. Other scientists participating in the study were affiliated with the
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., the University of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa, Kaiser Permanante, Oakland, Calif, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, Seattle, Wash., as well as Dr. Cerhan’s colleagues at the
Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Cerhan’s team considered
nine recommendations developed by the American Institute for Cancer Research,
and evaluated women’s cancer risk and other health outcomes based on how
many of those categories the women followed as part of their normal lifestyle.
Those recommendations included
having maximum body mass index less than 25 kg/m2; having gained no more than
11 pounds since age 18; engaging in daily moderate and weekly vigorous
physical activity; eating of 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruit daily;
consuming more than 400 grams (about 14 ounces) of complex carbohydrate per
day; limiting alcohol intake to less than 14 grams per day (one drink);
limiting red meat consumption to less than 80 grams per day (about 3 ounces);
limiting daily consumption of fat to no more than 30 percent of total caloric
intake; and limiting use of sodium to less than 2,400 milligrams per day.
Furthermore, the researchers considered whether the women in the study ever
smoked cigarettes.
When considering the impact of
never smoking and following these recommendations combined on the risk of
developing or dying from cancer, the researchers projected that 31 percent of
the cancer incidence and 30 percent of the cancer mortality theoretically
could have been delayed or prevented in this population. They noted that the
study participants, who were predominantly from Iowa, had lower smoking rates
than the US average. Even those who never smoked experienced a lower cancer
risk if they followed these recommendations.
It is estimated that one in
three women in the United States will develop cancer during her lifetime, Dr.
Cerhan noted. During 2003, about 658,800 women were diagnosed with cancer, not
including non-melanoma skin cancers. Cancer was the second leading cause of
death in women during 2000, and the leading cause of death among women between
40 and 79 years.
Dr. Cerhan noted that the
study examined the self-reported dietary and lifestyle habits of women, but
did not evaluate the effect that changes to improved, recommended diets would
have on the risk of cancer incidence and mortality, which would need to be
tested in a randomized clinical trial.
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is a professional society of more than 22,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical scientists engaged in all areas of cancer research in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication, and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. AACR's Annual Meetings attract more than 15,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field. Specialty meetings, held throughout the year, focus on the latest developments in all areas of cancer research )juli 2004)