An apple a day keeps cancer away? Study shows public confusion

Agence France-Presse
GENEVA - People are deeply confused about what causes cancer and the
most effective means of prevention, with many favouring more fruit
rather than cutting down alcohol, a new study said Wednesday.
"Many people hold mistaken beliefs about what causes cancer, tending
to inflate the threat from environmental factors that have relatively
little impact while minimising the hazards of behaviour," the
International Union Against Cancer (UICC) said in a statement.
The study was released on the first day of the UICC's World Cancer
Congress in Geneva, and was based on interviews with 29,925people in
29 countries over the past year carried out by Roy Morgan Research and
Gallup International.
It found that in high-income countries like the United States, Britain
and Spain, 59percent of people thought not eating enough fruit and
vegetables was a cancer risk, while only 51 percent viewed alcohol
intake in the same way.
"The scientific evidence for the protective effect of fruit and
vegetables is weaker than the evidence that alcohol intake is
harmful," the UICC said.
Moreover, 42 percent of people questioned in high-income countries
said that drinking alcohol does not increase the risk of causing
cancer -- a claim not borne out by statistics, according to the UICC.
"In fact, cancer risk rises as alcohol intake increases," it said.
In low- and middle-income countries, many people still adopt a
fatalistic approach to the disease, with 48percent of respondents
saying they believed "not much can be done" to treat the illness
--against just 17 percent in high-income countries.
"Such a misbelief is worrying because it might deter people from
participating in cancer screening programmes, which are important for
saving lives," the UICC warned.
"In general, people in all countries are more ready to accept that
things outside of their control might cause cancer (such as air
pollution), than things that are within their control," such as being
overweight, it added.
UICC President-elect David Hill said the survey showed "some big
unheard messages".
"We know that people need to be given a reason why they should change.
They need to be shown how to change; they need to be given resources
or support to change; they need to remember to change," he said.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, killing close
to eight million people each year --more than malaria, AIDS and TB
combined, the UICC noted.
By 2030, this will increase to almost 16million cases and around 11.5
million deaths per year, if current trends continue, it said.
World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan told the
opening of the Congress that "the time is right to make cancer control
a development priority."
Cancer is no longer an "affluent" disease but affects millions of
people in poor and developing countries whose infrastructure struggles
to cope with the impact of the disease, she warned.
"Developing countries are now face-to-face with problems that affluent
countries confronted decades ago... but with the shift in the cancer
burden, a nation's resource level can no longer be viewed as a barrier
to cancer control," she urged.

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