Cancer prevention: Healthy lifestyle

Published date20 Sep 2020

Healthy lifestyle factors

Improving health behaviours, such as stopping smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, eating well and exercising regularly, can prevent up to one third of all cancers.[24]

Maintaining a healthy weight helps to reduce the risk of 11 different cancers.[25]

Drinking alcohol increases the risk of many different cancers, including cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, breast, liver, stomach and bowel.[25]

To reduce cancer risk:

  • Maintain a healthy weight with a body mass index (BMI) range of 18.5–25 kg/m2.
  • Be active and aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity every day.
  • Eat a balanced and nutritious diet and aim for five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit each day; limit intake of salt and processed foods.
  • Limit alcohol consumption – drink no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day.[27]

BMI can be measured using the BMI calculator on the Get Healthy NSW website Online BMI Calculator.

Benefits of a healthy lifestyle

  • Staying at a healthy weight can help reduce the risk of breast cancer (in women after menopause), as well as bowel, kidney, liver, endometrial, ovarian, stomach, oesophagus, gall bladder, pancreas and (advanced) prostate cancer.[24]
  • Maintaining a healthy diet can help reduce the risk of bowel, oesophagus, lung, and some mouth and throat cancers.[24]
  • Reducing alcohol consumption can help reduce the risk of cancers arising in the mouth, throat, oesophagus, stomach, bowel, liver and breast.[24]
  • Being physically active can help reduce the risk of breast cancer (in women after menopause), bowel and endometrial cancers.[24]
  • The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) released revised draft Alcohol Guidelines in 2019. To reduce long‑term risk from alcohol, the Guidelines propose no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day. The draft Guidelines’ indication for short‑term harm remain the same as current guidelines, with a maximum of four standard drinks per day. It is advised that young people under 18 years and pregnant women do not drink alcohol, and that it is safest for breast feeding women not to drink alcohol.[27]

Overall key findings:

In 2018:

  • More than half of adults in NSW are overweight or obese.
  • Only 5.9% of adults in NSW ate enough vegetables (five or more serves) each day.
  • Less than half of NSW adults ate enough fruit (two or more serves) each day.
  • More than 60% of adults in NSW did the recommended amount of exercise (150 minutes) every week.
  • Almost 70% of adults in NSW drink alcohol within the maximum daily limit recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Note: These data were the latest available at the time they were extracted (May 2019). For the most recent population health data, visit www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au

Proportion of adults* who undertook adequate physical activity**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

Key findings:

  • Between 2013 and 2018, the proportion of adults in NSW doing the recommended amount of exercise each week (150 minutes) increased by 7.3%, from 52.9% to 60.2%, and improved in every LHD.
  • The proportion of adults who undertook adequate physical activity ranged from 47.1% to 70.2% across LHDs, in 2018.

Proportion of adults* who undertook adequate physical activity**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

N= Number of survey respondents in 2018.

* People aged 16 years and over.

** At least 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity per week, over five sessions, as per National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines.

Notes:

1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed July 2019).

Proportion of adults* who consumed alcohol within current guidelines**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

Key findings:

  • Between 2013 and 2018, the proportion of people drinking alcohol within recommended levels (two or fewer standard alcoholic drinks per day) decreased by 4.9%, from 73.4% to 68.5%.
  • The proportion of adults who consumed alcohol within current guidelines ranged from 59.4% to 76.1% across LHDs, in 2018.

Proportion of adults* who consumed alcohol within current guidelines**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

N= Number of survey respondents in 2018.

* People aged 16 years and over.

** Two or fewer standard alcoholic drinks per day, as per National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines.

Notes:

1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed July 2019).

Proportion of adults* who consumed alcohol within recommended levels**, NSW, 2009–2018

Key finding:

The proportion of NSW adults drinking alcohol within recommended levels (two or fewer standard alcoholic drinks per day) remained around 70% over the 10 years to 2018.

Proportion of adults* who consumed alcohol within recommended levels**, NSW, 2009–2018

* People aged 16 years and over.

** Two or fewer standard alcoholic drinks per day, as per National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines.

Notes:

1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed July 2019).

Proportion of adults* who had adequate fruit consumption**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

Key findings:

  • From 2013 to 2018, the proportion of adults in NSW who ate enough fruit (two or more serves per day) fell from 51.8% to 40.9%.
  • The proportion of adults who had adequate fruit consumption ranged from 34.0% to 47.9% across LHDs, in 2018.

Proportion of adults* who had adequate fruit consumption**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

N= Number of survey respondents in 2018.

* People aged 16 years and over.

** Consumed two or more serves of fruit per day, as per National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines.

Notes:

1.Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed July 2019).

Proportion of adults* who had adequate vegetable consumption**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

Key findings:

  • Between 2013 and 2018, the proportion of people in NSW who ate enough vegetables (five or more serves per day) decreased by 1.6%, from 7.5% to 5.9%.
  • The proportion of adults who had adequate vegetable consumption ranged from 2.8% to 10.2%

Proportion of adults* who had adequate vegetable consumption**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

N= Number of survey respondents in 2018.

* People aged 16 years and over.

** Consumed five or more serves of vegetables per day, as per National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines.

Notes:

1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed July 2019).

Proportion of adults* who were a healthy weight**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

Key findings:

  • Between 2013 and 2018, the proportion of adults in NSW who were a healthy weight decreased by 3.0%, from 48.8% to 45.8%.
  • The proportion of adults who were a healthy weight ranged from 21.8% to 57.3% across LHD’s, in 2018.

Proportion of adults* who were a healthy weight**, by NSW local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2013 and 2018

N= Number of survey respondents in 2018.

* People aged 16 years and over.

** Body Mass Index (BMI) 25 or less. This BMI includes a small proportion of people who are underweight. In 2018, underweight proportion was estimated to be 2% of the NSW population, based on information reported by HealthStats NSW.

Notes:

1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey (sourced from HealthStats NSW, Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health). Available at www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au (accessed June 2019).

Why are different time periods and dates reported?

Cancer information is collected from many different sources, so it takes time to review and analyse the data. Different pieces of information may be collected over different time periods, or reported at different times. This means not all the measures reported here have the same dates.

The information presented is the most recent available for each measure at the time this report was written.

Why are confidence intervals reported here?

Confidence intervals are included when a small sample is used to represent the overall population, because there is a chance of an error due to this scaling.

In this report, a 95% confidence interval is presented only on charts where a sample of the population is used. This interval can be thought of as a margin of error.

The larger the sample size, the smaller the confidence interval range. The smaller the sample size, the larger the confidence interval range.

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