What if one of the leading causes of death was entirely preventable? 

In 2022, the top three leading causes of death in the United States were heart disease, cancer, and preventable injuries.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10 million deaths — approximately one out of every six — in 2020 were due to cancer. The most common causes of cancer death in 2020 were lung (1.80 million deaths), colon and rectum (916,000 deaths), liver (830,000 deaths), stomach (769,000 deaths), and breast (685,000 deaths).

The most common cancers in 2022 (in terms of new cases) were breast (2.26 million cases), lung (2.21 million cases), colon rectum (1.93 million cases), prostate (1.41 million cases), non-melanoma skin (1.20 million cases), and stomach (1.09 million cases) cancers.

The Dallas Express recently reported on preventing skin cancer and the link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer. However, there are even more types of cancer that can be prevented simply by making different life choices. 

Newsweek reports on a new study says that many cancer deaths are preventable. Here’s the start of the story:

Four in 10 cancer cases and half of all adult cancer deaths in the United States could be avoided, new research indicates. The researchers say their findings demonstrate an urgent need for more effective interventions and access to preventive health care.

Roughly 1.8 million new cancer cases are diagnosed in the U.S. every year, with roughly 600,000 deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Cancer can affect anyone, but our risk of developing the disease can be greatly increased by a number of environmental and lifestyle factors.

Now, new research from the cancer society has revealed that hundreds of thousands of cancer cases could be avoided by changing these modifiable risk factors.

The team used nationally representative data to assess the proportion of cancer cases and deaths that were attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors, including smoking, secondhand smoke, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, poor diet, physical inactivity, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and infection with viruses known to cause cancer, like HPV.