New research out of Stony Brook University in New York points more towards lifestyle and environmental factors than genes and DNA mutations when it comes to the risk of developing most cancers.
According to Yusuf Hannun, head of the Stony Brook University Cancer Center, the role of genetics in cancer development appears to be relatively small, Voice of America reports.
Hannun was quoted by VoA as having said that “around 70 to 90 percent of cancer incidence appears to be related to external factors, whereas only 10 to 30 percent” pertains to “intrinsic” variables.
The study’s authors, whose findings were published in the journal Nature, wrote that when it comes to cancer risk, environmental variables “play important roles” — but researchers note that such variables “are modifiable through lifestyle changes and/or vaccination.”
Environmental factors play important roles in cancer incidence and they are modifiable through lifestyle changes and/or vaccination…
According to the researchers, such variables as air pollution and smoking “are attributable” to increased cancer risk. Other variables include sun exposure, which increases melanoma risk, and poor diet, CNN reports.
Researchers behind the study arrived at their conclusions as a result of a combination of what the VoA reports to have been “complex” approaches that included population studies, genetic analysis and computer modeling.
The study’s findings are completely contradictory to those of a study published in the journal Science earlier this year in which researchers found most cancer to be the result of bad luck when it comes to the genetic roll of the dice that is life.
