Oncologists on the simple, everyday things they do to try to prevent cancer

(Sarah Philips/ The Guardian) — Despite the fact that one in two people will get cancer, many of us are ill informed about what we can do to prevent it. How do oncologists live their lives based on what they know? Doctors share the secrets of living healthily and the risks worth taking – or not.

“The only safe amount of smoking is no smoking, given how addictive nicotine is,” says oncologist Charles Swanton, who treats patients with lung cancer and is the chief clinician for Cancer Research UK. Witnessing the pain of lung cancer patients is a potent reminder of just how devastating the consequences of smoking can be, Swanton says. And, he adds: “Smoking doesn’t just cause lung cancer, but also cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, stroke and vascular dementia – in addition to 15 other cancer types.

Dr Shivan Sivakumar, an oncologist who treats patients in Birmingham with pancreatic cancers, bile duct cancers and liver cancers, says that roughly 70% of cases of liver cancer he sees are related to obesity. “Alcohol does have an impact, but nowhere near the same level,” he says. “With cancer, the big cause that everyone tells you about is smoking. When you look at the statistics at the moment, about 13% of the UK population are active smokers and that is probably going to go down to less than 10% in the next few years. (…)