Diet and lifestyle

There are over 200 different types of cancer. We don’t know the causes for each one of these cancers, but we do know about some. It is important to note that for many cancers, there may be more than one cause. One of the biggest risks is increasing age. Cancer can occur at any age but the risk of developing it increases with age; over 70% of people who get cancer are over the age of 60.

We make lifestyle choices everyday; some we know increase our risk of developing cancer, others may have an influence on our risk. For example, smoking is a major cause of lung cancer and is a factor in other cancers, such as bladder cancer and cancers of the mouth and throat.

Other factors are heavy alcohol consumption and exposure to sunlight.

In this section, there are a number of questions and answers about diet and lifestyle as causes of cancer. You may also find it helpful to look in our section about diet and the cancer patient, for further information on healthy diets.