Obesity is set to overtake smoking as the biggest preventable cause of cancer in UK women by 2043, a Cancer Research UK report predicts.
Currently, 12% of cancers in women are linked to smoking, and 7% to being overweight and obese.
But with the number of smokers falling and obesity rates projected to rise, the charity estimates that gap will disappear in 25 years time.
The figures assume that current trends will continue.
Cancer Research UK’s projections calculate that by 2035, 10% of cancers in women (around 25,000 cases) could be related to smoking and 9% (around 23,000 cases) to carrying excess weight.
And by 2043, if those trends continued, being overweight and obese could be linked to even more cases of cancer than smoking in women.
