Lifestyle Interventions in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

Despite evidence that cancer death rates in the United States are declining, the absolute number of new cancers and cancer deaths continues to increase, and there is clear evidence that certain human behaviors are influencing these increases. The 4 major factors of lifestyle that continue to be causally related to certain cancers-tobacco use, an unhealthy diet, inadequate exercise, and excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation-are each independently important in their effects on the genetic and molecular processes that result in the malignant transformation of human cells. There is both irrefutable and otherwise strong evidence that 4 common cancers that occur in the United States-lung cancer, colon/rectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer-and a less common cancer, malignant melanoma, have etiologic factors that are lifestyle based and therefore controllable through alterations in human behavior. These cancers and the evidence that lifestyle is important in the causation and/or prevention of the disease are the subjects of this review.