But, she said, the institute has identified three steps people could take to dramatically affect the chances of developing cancer:
- Eat a mostly plant-based diet.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Exercise regularly.
"The data is pretty clear that we can make a significant drop in the cancer rate with these three changes," Collins said. "We can prevent about one-third of cancers with these changes. And if you add tobacco prevention, which reduces about 30 percent of cancers, over half of today's cancers could be prevented."