LONDON
Half of the people in Britain will develop cancer at some point in their lives, a U.K. charity has forecast.
Cancer Research UK said in its latest analysis of the spread of the disease, published in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday, that new research methods showed more Britons were at risk of cancer than the organization had previously thought.
The charity forecast nearly 48 percent of women and nearly 54 percent of men will develop cancer at some point in their lives - higher figures than the research charity's previous estimate of one-in-three people.
The author of the research paper, Queen Mary University of London Professor Peter Sasieni, said that in order to cut the risk of developing cancer, people should try "giving up smoking, being more active, drinking less alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight".
Breast cancer is likely to remain the most common cancer among women and prostate cancer the most common cancer among men, it stated.
The number of women being diagnosed with lung cancer continues to rise, according to the analysis.
The charity said "age is the biggest risk factor for most cancers", noting that the longer people survive in life, the more chance they have of being diagnosed with cancer.
