Preventability Estimates

When the WCRF global network published Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, it included an appendix that estimated what proportion of cancers are preventable in the UK, US, Brazil and China.

To do this, we took the Expert Report’s findings about how much different patterns of diet and physical activity affect risk of cancer.

We then took this information and cross-referenced it against dietary surveys in the four countries.

For each lifestyle factor, we divided people into three groups – low consumption, medium consumption, and high consumption. We then worked out what proportion of each type of cancer could be prevented if everyone did the same as the healthiest group did at the moment.

Processed meat and cancer: an example

For example, with processed meat and bowel cancer, we divided the UK into three groups: those who have less than 10g per day, those who have between 10g and 80g per day, and those who have more than 80g per day.

At the moment, about 42% of people are in the healthiest group, those who eat less than 10g of processed meat per day.

Our estimate that 10% could be prevented is based on a scenario where everyone ate less than 10g per day.

Estimates are estimates

Information on how common each type of cancer is in the UK was used to calculate the overall estimate that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented through diet, physical activity and weight.

These estimates have been agreed by some of the most eminent scientists in the field and you can find out more detail about how they were worked out by downloading the Policy Report.

But it is important to emphasise that making estimates on the proportion of cancers that could be prevented is very complex. Because of this, the figures should be treated as estimates rather than exact figures.