It’s easy to feel powerless about cancer, but a new study has discovered several ways you can lower your odds.
More than one-third of cancer cases worldwide are preventable, according to new analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Nearly half of these were lung, stomach and cervical cancers.
This means millions of fatal cancers could be prevented each year through medical intervention, behavior change, reducing occupational risks or addressing environmental pollutants.
“Addressing these preventable causes is one of the strongest opportunities to reduce the global burden of cancer,” said Isabelle Soerjomataram, a WHO medical epidemiologist and senior author of the analysis.
The analysis found that in 2022, there will be nearly 19 million new cases of cancer. Approximately 38% of diagnoses are associated with 30 modifiable risk factors.
These include smoking, alcohol consumption, high body mass index, physical inactivity, smokeless tobacco (such as chewing tobacco), a traditional stimulant called betel nut, suboptimal breastfeeding, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, infectious agents, and more than a dozen occupational exposures.
The No. 1 preventable factor related to cancer? Smoking. It was responsible for 15% of all cancer cases that year.
For men, the risk is particularly high. That year, 23% of new cancer cases in men worldwide were caused by smoking.
Cancer cases in a) women and b) men are associated with preventable risk factors. (Fink et al., Nat. medicine. 2026)
But smoking isn’t the only cause; air pollution also plays a role, and its effects vary by region. For example, in East Asia, approximately 15% of lung cancer cases in women are caused by air pollution. Meanwhile, in North Africa and Western Asia, air pollution is responsible for approximately 20% of male lung cancer cases.
Among the factors that change lifestyle, alcohol consumption ranks second after smoking. It accounts for 3.2% of all new cancer cases (approximately 700,000 cases).
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At the same time, about 10% of new cancer cases are related to infections. Among women, the largest proportion of preventable cancers are caused by the high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer.
Thankfully, we now have an HPV vaccine that protects against many of these related diseases, but coverage remains low in many parts of the world.
Stomach cancer rates are higher in men and are often linked to smoking and infections caused by overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and poor access to clean water.
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“By examining patterns across countries and populations, we can provide governments and individuals with more specific information to help prevent many cancer cases,” said André Ilbawi, head of the WHO Cancer Control Group and co-author of the analysis.
Now is the time for us to roll up our sleeves.
The study was published in natural medicine.
