Lifestyle is blamed for half a million UK cancers in past five years

Nearly 600 000 cancer cases in the United Kingdom could have been avoided in the past five years if people had led healthier lifestyles, figures from Cancer Research UK have shown. Overall, experts said that more than four in 10 cancers could be prevented by lifestyle changes.

Smoking remains by far the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK, accounting for more than 314 000 cases in the past five years—nearly a fifth of all cancers. But the charity’s figures showed that a further 145 000 cases …