Largest study of its kind suggests high red meat consumption has biggest impact, followed by smoking
More than a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to lifestyle factors such as red meat intake and smoking, according to the largest study of its kind.
The study, published in the Lancet Oncology, used data from population-based cancer registries to produce a comprehensive analysis of breast cancer and its risk factors.
The data used, spanning from 1990 to 2023 from more than 200 countries, was also used to produce forecasts of trends regarding breast cancer up to 2050. In the UK, about one in seven women will develop the disease in their lifetime.
New breast cancer cases in women are predicted to rise by a third globally, from 2.3m in 2023 to more than 3.5m in 2050, according to the analysis by the Global Burden of Disease Study Breast Cancer Collaborators.
