Cancer Screening

Here’s a scary number. Every day, an average 60 Kiwis — that’s enough to fill a coach or a restaurant — hear a word they never wanted to come out of their doctor’s

lips.

Here’s an even scarier number: more than a third of those 60 people potentially could have avoided cancer.

Dr Richard Babor, a surgeon best known for his TVNZ series The Big Ward, knows plenty about how a healthy, well-balanced diet and plenty of exercise can make us less likely to encounter New Zealand’s number one killer.

But, until recently, even his lifestyle was what he called “a bit hit and miss”.

“Like anyone, I love sugar, fat and carbs. I have a thing for croissant,” he says.

“But having gone out into the world looking for answers I can definitely say that I have changed.” He eats less meat and more veges and olive oil. He sleeps more, exercises at a moderate pace, and enjoys it more.

“I’ve discovered that I absolutely cannot give up my love of croissants, but that’s ok,” he says.

“I might add — I’m also happier. My well-being has increased enormously.”

Babor is packing all those pearls of wisdom he’s learned from medical research, and applied in his own life, into the next TVNZ show he’s hosting: How Not To Get Cancer.

Cancer, a collection of diseases, killed nearly 10 million people worldwide last year, and remains the biggest cause of death here in New Zealand.

The Global Burden of Disease study — the most comprehensive analysis of cancer-related health outcomes and patterns ever conducted — has shown just how dismal rates are among Kiwis.

It put New Zealand’s rate of new cancer cases per 100,000 people — age-adjusted and as at 2016 — at 542.8.

That was behind only Australia (at 743.8) and worse than the US (532.9), the Netherlands (477.3) and Luxembourg (455.4).

It also showed how New Zealand also stood out for having the world’s worst rate of deaths from malignant skin melanoma, along with the worst rate of new cases of leukemia.

Our rates of the former cancer was 6.6 per 100,000 people — around six times the global average — while rates of the latter were 20.3 per 100,000 people, or three times the global average.

As it stood, more than 23,000 Kiwis were being diagnosed every year.

And figures recently released by the Ministry of Health showed more than

9500 people died from cancer each year, representing 31 per cent of all deaths recorded in New Zealand.

The number of people affected by cancer was also expected to increase by 50 per cent by 2035.

“Cancer diagnosis are going up,” says Babor, an Auckland-based general, gastrointestinal and