""We now have the information to prevent cancer before it starts," said Isabelle Soerjomataram, a cancer surveillance specialist at the International Agency on Research on Cancer (IARC). Speaking to the press last week, Soerjomataram and her colleague Andre Ilbawi were presenting the findings of a study involving 36 cancer types in 185 countries. The two co-authored and published their results in the medical journal Nature Medicine on February 3, 2026."
"The study leads with a statistic as striking as Soerjomataram's opening claim: 7.1 million new cases of cancer were linked to what's known as modifiable risk factors (MRFs) such as consuming tobacco or alcohol, as well as various infections. That's 37.8% of a total of 18.7 million new cancer cases in 2022. Research into MRFs is not strictly new. We have long known that MRFs, which also include overweight and obesity, air pollution, and other environmental toxins, can be carcinogenic."
Analysis covered 36 cancer types across 185 countries. A total of 7.1 million new cancer cases in 2022 were linked to modifiable risk factors (MRFs), representing 37.8% of 18.7 million new cases that year. Thirty MRFs were evaluated, including tobacco, alcohol, air pollution, occupational carcinogens, high body mass index, insufficient physical activity, smokeless tobacco and areca nut, certain breastfeeding practices, and ultraviolet radiation. Infectious agents such as hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV) were included for the first time in MRF analyses. HPV-caused cancers account for the largest share of preventable cancers in women globally despite effective vaccines; levels remain high in some regions.
Read at www.dw.com
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