Obesity epidemic fuels 50pc rise in liver cancer deaths

BRITAIN’S obesity epidemic has fuelled a 50 per cent rise in deaths from liver cancer in just a decade.

A Cancer Research UK report revealed a record 5,700 such deaths a year, with figures tripling since the Seventies, as a result of increasingly unhealthy lifestyles.

Cancer experts described the statistics as “alarming” and said they should be seen as a “wake up call”. Obesity is the leading cause of liver disease, and two in three adults in the UK are overweight or obese.

Smoking and drinking are other risk factors for the disease, which is one of the hardest cancers to treat. Five-year survival ranges from 6 to 37 per cent depending on age and gender.

The figures showed that from 2007-17, the number of deaths from the disease rose from 3,200 to 5,700. When rates were adjusted and age-standardised in line with the population, it amounted to an increase of around 50 per cent, from 5.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2005-7, to 8.9 per 100,000 in 2015-17. When records began in 1971, the rate was 2.8 per 100,000 people.

Of all cancers, liver cancer saw the largest rise in deaths over the past decade and the most rapid rise in deaths since UK records began. The number of cases diagnosed rose by around 60 per cent over the last decade.

The disease is difficult to treat mainly because it can be hard to spot at an early stage as it often does not cause symptoms until it has progressed.

Cancer Research UK said around half of all cases of liver cancer could be prevented with lifestyle changes.

Being overweight or obese is the biggest preventable cause of the disease, with 23 per cent of cases linked to excess weight. Twenty per cent were linked to smoking, research showed.

Michelle Mitchell, the Cancer Research UK chief executive, said: “A lot of progress has been made saving lives from cancer, but it’s worrying to see deaths from liver cancer increasing at such an alarming rate. Far too many lives are being lost, which is why we’re funding more research into this area.

“Keeping a healthy weight, not smoking, and drinking less alcohol will all help lower your chance of developing liver cancer.”

The disease is more common in men than women, with the greatest risk among those aged over 60. It is linked to cirrhosis caused by alcohol abuse as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, caused by obesity.

Earlier this week England’s former chief medical officer said Britain must become more like France in order to tackle its obesity epidemic.

Prof Dame Sally Davies said children in the UK were being “flooded” with unhealthy foods, saying that the country should learn from France, where children sit down for meals, snack less and eat healthier fare.