Imagine a powerful new treatment that could cut all cancer deaths by more than half.
In the age of US$10,000-a-month cancer drugs that often extend life by the thinnest margins – a few precious months before the cancer rages back – the idea of such a potent effect sounds like a fantasy.
It isn’t, but it’s no magic bullet either. A new study published in the journal JAMA Oncology estimates that by simply applying preventative insights we’ve had for decades – no smoking, drinking in moderation, maintaining a healthy body weight and exercising – more than half of cancer deaths could be prevented and new cases of cancer could drop by 40 per cent to 60 per cent.