Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago report in the journal Circulation that following the American Heart Association Life's Simple 7 steps to reduce heart disease can also cut cancer risk. The Simple 7 include:
- Being physically active
- Keeping a healthy weight
- Eating a healthy diet
- Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels
- Keeping blood pressure down
- Regulating blood sugar levels
- Not smoking
Those who were diagnosed, however, tended to follow fewer of the Life's Simple 7 behaviors than those who did not develop cancer. People who followed six of the seven health metrics had a 51% lower cancer risk than the participants who did not meet any of the steps. The relationship held even after the scientists accounted for the effect of smoking on cancer risk; when smoking was taken out of the equation, participants who followed five to six of the health steps had a 25% lower cancer risk. (TIME)