Study: Common illnesses, lifestyle behaviors can have links to cancer

A team of researchers in the United States and Taiwan have found links between eight common chronic diseases or conditions and cancer and five unhealthy lifestyle choices that include smoking, insufficient physical activity, insufficient fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption and obesity.

The team found that several common chronic diseases account for more than one-fifth of new cancer cases and more than one-third of cancer deaths.

The results were published on Jan 31 in The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal).