• Sun safety
  • About skin cancer
  • Causes of skin cancer
  • Check for signs of skin cancer
  • Preventing skin cancer
    • SPF50+ sunscreen
  • Vitamin D
    • How much sun is enough?
  • UV alert
    • UV Alert widget
    • SunSmart App
  • Nanoparticles and sunscreen
  • SunSmart position statements
  • Cancer Council Shop
  • SunSmart schools and early childhood programs
    • Real Stories: secondary school resource
    • Primary school resource
  • Sun protection in the workplace
  • Campaigns and events
    • Slip Slop Slap Seek Slide
    • No tan is worth dying for
    • Protect yourself in five ways from skin cancer
    • Skin Cancer Action Week 2014
• Nutrition and physical activity
  • Body weight
  • Food and nutrition
  • Physical activity
  • Alcohol
  • Cancer patients and diets
  • National Secondary Students' Diet and Physical Activity survey
• Smoking and tobacco
  • Smoking
  • Quitting smoking
  • Myths about smoking
• Reduce your risk
  • Quit smoking
  • Eat for health
  • Maintain a healthy weight
  • Be SunSmart
  • Limit alcohol
  • Move your body
  • Get checked - men
  • Get checked - women
• Early detection
  • General advice
  • Early detection fact sheets
    • Breast cancer
    • Ovarian cancer
    • Bowel cancer
    • Prostate cancer
    • Understanding your pap smear results
    • Understanding your FOBT
  • Screening programs
    • Breast cancer screening
    • Bowel cancer screening
    • Cervical cancer screening
    • Prostate cancer screening

Preventing cancer

It may surprise you to learn that at least one in three cancer cases are preventable and the number of cancer deaths could be reduced significantly by choosing a cancer smart lifestyle.

More than 13,000 cancer deaths each year are due to smoking, sun exposure, poor diet, alcohol, inadequate exercise or being overweight.

There are some simple steps you can take to minimise your cancer risk. So where do you start? The seven steps to reducing your cancer risk are explained in the Cancer Council's cancer prevention lifestyle fact sheets.

For a more detailed analysis of cancer prevention please view the National Cancer Prevention Policy. The policy is a comprehensive set of recommendations, outlining how national action by governments and non-government organisations can reduce new cases of cancer from occurring.

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This page was last updated on: Monday, March 30, 2015