It is a myth to believe that getting cancer is simply down to bad luck or genetic factors.

Experts believe that up to half of cases can be prevented through lifestyle changes. A total of 134,000 cancers in the UK are believed to be caused by lifestyle and environmental factors each year. For more information checkout the summary in the resource section here.

These don’t stop your chances completely, but can greatly reduce your risk. The four biggest lifestyle changes you can make are; not smoking, keeping active, moderating how much alcohol you drink, and eating five daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

Taking care in the sun can significantly reduce your risk of skin cancer, especially in the sun in the UK as people don’t often consider protective cream or reducing their risk.

It is never too late to make changes to your lifestyles. Tobacco has the greatest impact, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women. Stopping smoking at aged 30 will cut your risk of lung cancer almost to that of non smokers. Stopping at 50 can undo half of the damage done.

The next biggest influence is a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in diets (for men) and being overweight (for women).

A great number more lives can be saved if people with symptoms seek help earlier; treatment is often easier too.

We have included specific prevention information for each cancer in the cancer sections of the toolkit.