HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini
Reducing your risk of cancer
Ngā hātepe e whakawhāiti ai i tō tūraru mate pukupuku
Making healthy life choices and taking part in screening programmes can reduce your chance of getting cancer.
As well as finding cases of cancer, screening programmes can find changes before they become cancer. New Zealand has national screening for cervical, breast and bowel cancers. Some men choose to have a screening test for prostate cancer.
Being smokefree will make the biggest difference and it is never too late to stop being a smoker.
Alcohol is linked to several cancers including bowel and breast cancer. Avoiding alcohol is the safest option. If you do drink alcohol, try to reduce the amount you drink.
Eating well while aiming for a healthy weight is important.
- Limit the amount of red meat you eat to no more than 700 g (uncooked weight) a week.
- Avoid processed meat such as bacon, ham, salami and corned beef.
- Have at least 7 servings of vegetables and fruit each day along with some grain foods. Choose mostly wholegrains and those naturally high in fibre, such as wholegrain bread and cereal and brown rice.
- No supplements have been found to reduce cancer risk. The foods you eat are what make a difference.
Spend less time sitting and keep active. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity most days and at least 2 sessions of muscle strengthening activities per week.
Being sun-smart can reduce your risk of all types of skin cancers.
HPV vaccination reduces the risk of cervical cancer and mouth, throat, penile and anal cancers.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Cancer Society – Reducing your cancer risk
Information about things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer.
- World Cancer Research Fund International – Cancer prevention recommendations
A package of healthy lifestyle choices. Together these can make an enormous impact on people's likelihood of developing cancer and other non-communicable diseases over their lifetimes.
On the next page: Inherited cancer & BRCA genes
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed May 2025.
SourcesReview key: HICCR-38555
