The perception that certain lifestyles increase cancer risk is improving, but certain misconceptions persist. The 2021 cancer barometer published on Monday by the National Cancer Institute (INCa) and Public Health France (SPF) shows this. This study, which has been carried out every five years since 2005, draws lessons from a telephone survey of 4,938 people aged 15 to 85 over several months in 2021. It shows that certain beliefs about cancer are quite widespread in the population, despite the lack of scientific evidence. foundation to support them. Here is a non-exhaustive overview.
• The risk of cancer exists from 9.2 cigarettes a day
The smokers consulted by the barometer estimate that the risk of cancer related to tobacco exists from 9.2 cigarettes per day on average. In detail, 30.2% of smokers identify a risk from one cigarette a day, 25.3% between 2 and 9 cigarettes a day and 18.9% between 10 and 19 cigarettes a day.
More than one in five smokers (21.2%) think that the danger threshold is above 20 cigarettes a day. 4.4% do not know.
“Smoking is dangerous from the first cigarette,” says the director of the National Cancer Institute (INCa), Thierry Breton. “You shouldn’t start smoking at all and quit as soon as possible.”
• The number of cigarettes per day is more dangerous than the duration of smoking
4 out of 10 smokers believe that the duration of smoking influences the appearance of cancer more than the daily amount of tobacco smoked, almost 6 out of 10 smokers believe that it is rather the number of cigarettes smoked per day. According to the INCa and SPF, “prolonged exposure over time to carcinogenic substances in tobacco smoke is much more dangerous: when the duration of smoking is doubled, the risk of cancer is multiplied by twenty.”
“Doubling daily consumption doubles the risk of cancer,” adds the survey.
• Doing sports cleanses the lungs
Asked about the statement “playing sports helps clear the lungs of tobacco”, 54.8% or more than half of the people surveyed (smokers or not) say they totally agree or tend to agree”.
However, as Thierry Breton points out to BFMTV.com, this idea is not based on “any scientific basis”. “No mechanism except quitting smoking can compensate” for smoking. “The sooner we stop, the more we can regain normal lung capacity,” he adds.
• The main dangers of alcohol are violence and traffic accidents.
Also in terms of alcohol, there are many misconceptions. The opinion “the main risk of alcohol is traffic accidents and violence” is the most widely shared among those surveyed in the barometer: on average, more than 8 out of 10 people say they agree with this opinion.
For Thierry Breton, this figure shows that “the risk of alcohol to health is less identified”. In fact, only 50.2% of young people between the ages of 15 and 85 believe that drinking a glass of alcohol a day increases the risk of developing cancer.
However, a study published by Public Health France in 2015 estimated that 41,000 deaths were attributable to alcohol in metropolitan France this year, including 16,000 deaths from cancer (the others stemming in particular from cardiovascular and digestive diseases). This study attributed 5,400 alcohol-related deaths to an “external cause (accident or suicide).”
“Therefore, we would expect the health risk to be on the same level as the risk of violence and traffic accidents,” comments Thierry Breton.
• Strong alcohols particularly contribute to cancer risk
Another misconception about alcohol: the fact that “it is especially strong alcohol that increases the risk of cancer”, an opinion shared by 38.6% of those surveyed by the INCa and the SPF.
“The type of alcohol doesn’t matter, it’s the amount of alcohol that counts,” explains Thierry Breton.
A standard drink contains approximately 10 grams of pure alcohol, regardless of the type of drink (wine, beer, or hard liquor). On the other hand, unlike cigarettes, alcohol consumption that remains below the reference values established by public authorities (no more than two glasses a day, not every day) does not present an increased risk compared to cigarettes. with someone who does not consume it at all.
• Drinking a little wine reduces the risk of cancer
More than one in five people (23.5%) believe that “in general, drinking a little wine reduces the risk of cancer rather than not drinking it at all.” If moderate consumption does not present a greater risk, nothing proves that alcohol has any protective power, according to the director of the INCa. “Wine consumption, even small, does not protect against cancer,” says Thierry Breton.
“It’s an old belief, in a country, France, where the wine culture is very marked,” he explains.
• Doing UV before the holidays prepares the skin for the sun
The 2021 Cancer Barometer is also interested in the perception of natural and man-made ultraviolet (UV) rays. 95.7% of those surveyed identified that exposure to the sun poses a risk of cancer and 89.5% stated that the use of UV cabins is a cause of cancer. However, some misconceptions persist. 23.9% of those surveyed agree with the following statement: “Getting UV done before the holidays helps prepare the skin to protect itself from the sun”.
“Whether in the cabin or in the sun, exposure to UV rays does not protect”, contradicts Thierry Breton.
“Being tanned is not protection,” adds the director of INCa, who points out “a lack of knowledge about the risks associated with UV rays and protective actions.”
In 2018, ANSES also warned about the risks associated with artificial UV rays. “Tanning booths emit high-intensity radiation, equivalent to exposure to a tropical sun” that “combines with that received naturally,” the national health security agency explained on its website. These doses “cause DNA damage and increase the risk of skin cancer,” she added.
Tanning caused by exposure to artificial UV rays “follows a different mechanism than natural tanning and does not provide any protection against the harmful effects of UV rays,” according to ANSES.
• Cancer is often hereditary
“In 2021, 67.7% of the French believe that cancer is hereditary compared to 61.8% in 2015 and 52.4% in 2010”, according to the INCa and SPF cancer barometer. This is a “confusion”, according to the two organizations, since it is not cancer that is hereditary, but certain genes that predispose it. “There may be a fragility in the genes, but it is not a transmission of cancer and it is not automatic,” Thierry Breton explains to BFMTV.com.
This belief does not help in prevention. “This induces a form of fatalism, we can say to ourselves ‘what is the use of doing something if it is hereditary’. This plays against the idea that we are actors in our health. However, 40% of cancers are preventable”, advocate. .
For the director of INCa, “all these received ideas must be fought one by one.” He points out in particular the role of health professionals in this process: “doctors are effective when they explain risk factors to patients, they are believed”.
Source: BFM TV
