Warning on diets, as incidence of cancer set to rise by a third
Hong Kong people have been urged to change their diet, after the city's cancer registry projected the number of new cancer cases to increase by nearly one-third by the end of the next decade.
The Hong Kong Cancer Registry said its latest records showed an average of 22,817 new cases annually between 2004 and 2006, and it projected that the number would reach 30,190 by 2020.
In particular, the number of new cases of uterine cancer is expected to double, while new cases of female breast cancer are tipped to rise about 81 per cent and new cases of colorectal cancers by half.
Clinical oncologist Anthony Ying Chi-ho, chairman of the cancer detection and prevention subcommittee of the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, said the increase was due to people's diet.
"There are different factors. The common reason for the rise may be related to people's diet. For example, the consumption of red meat and the incidence of colorectal cancers are related," he said at a press conference yesterday.
"The projection for the increase in [uterine] cancers may be due to the trend in the past 20 years," he said. "The cancer registry figures show that there has been an increase of this cancer by about 3 per cent per year."
Lung-cancer cases are estimated to increase by about 13 per cent by the year 2020.
In 2006, the three most common cancers in Hong Kong were breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer.
Lung cancer led with 4,233 registered new cases.
According to the registry, the number of new cases of colorectal cancer was likely to overtake those of lung cancer next year.
"Cancer has been Hong Kong's No1 killer in the past 20 years," Ying said.
"It has killed more than 12,000 people each year.
"One in every four men and one in every five women will develop cancer in the course of their lives," he said.
The total number of new cases of all types of cancer increased from 18,267 in 1995 to 23,750 in 2006, or 30 per cent.
The total number of deaths due to cancers rose from 9,680 in 1995 to 12,093 in 2006 - 25 per cent.
However, Ying said cancer could be preventable.
"Making changes to the food we eat, increasing the amount of exercise we take and maintaining a healthy weight can help prevent about one-third of related cancers - just as choosing not to smoke or quitting smoking can play a role in reducing the risk of lung cancers."
He said that limiting consumption of alcoholic drinks and salty foods could also help prevent cancer.
Ying said cancer screening had been adopted by more people in recent years in an effort to detect the disease before symptoms appeared.
But there were disadvantages.
"Cancer screening may lead to unnecessary investigations of false-positive results and may lead to false reassurance for those with false-negative results," he said. "False-positive results may also bring cost and psychological burdens on people."
Source: www.scmp.com
