The amount of cheese you eat could determine if you're likely to die early from cancer, heart disease and liver failure, a new major study suggests.
Experts from Oxford University found a host of intriguing environmental and lifestyle factors — from the number of naps you take and whether or not you're married — accounted for 17 per cent of a person's risk dying from 22 different diseases.
Such factors were found to have 10-times more influence than genetic factors, which only accounted for two per cent of the increased risk of death.
In total the study tracking half-a-million Brits pinpointed 23 environmental factors that made a significant difference to death risk — and all were 'modificable', meaning the harm could be prevented.
These factors included eating cheese, living in a deprived area, frequently 'feeling fed up', employment status, living arrangements such as living with a partner or in a flat as opposed to house, average hours of sleep, smoking status and exercise levels.
These exposures were found to influence survival from a host of diseases including cancers of the breast lung, prostate, ovaries, colon, pancreas, liver as well as oesophageal cancer and leukaemia.
Environmental exposures played a far greater role in lung cancer compared to breast, where genetic risk played a greater part.
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| factors like exercise levels, your wealth and if you were too fat as a child are far more important for determining your chance of dying than your genes, a major analysis suggests. stock image |
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| this bar chart from the study shows the role of environmental and lifestyle factors (green segment) in influencing a host of diseases compared to genetic risk factors (yellow) and age and sex (purple). |
Experts hailed the results of the study for highlighting the importance of tackling changeable factors like poverty, to improve the nation's health.
The researchers found smoking, socioeconomic status, physical activity, and living conditions were the biggest modifiable factors influencing health conditions.
Smoking was as associated with 22 diseases, while factors such as household income, home ownership, and employment, living in a deprived area, and tiredness were associated with 19.
Exercise levels and hours of sleep and being 'plumper' as a child were linked to 17 diseases.
Researchers also found having a mother who smoked, and being overweight or obese at the age of 10 could influence risk of premature death 30-80 years later.
One outlier was dementia — where genetic risk was found to be far more influential on the likelihood of death from the disease.
Only roughly 10 per cent of dementia risk is thought to lie with modifiable environmental factors, the researchers suggested.
Professor Cornelia van Duijn, an expert in epidemiology and senior author of the paper, said the research demonstrated the power policy could have other factors that influence our health.
‘Our research demonstrates the profound health impact of exposures that can be changed either by individuals or through policies to improve socioeconomic conditions, reduce smoking, or promote physical activity.
‘While genes play a key role in brain conditions and some cancers, our findings highlight opportunities to mitigate the risks of chronic diseases of the lung, heart and liver which are leading causes of disability and death globally.
'The early life exposures are particularly important as they show that environmental factors accelerate ageing early in life but leave ample opportunity to prevent long-lasting diseases and early death.’
She added that previous work in this field has tended to focus on one specific lifestyle factor, like smoking, rather than a range of factors working together.
In the study, published in Nature Medicine, researchers analysed levels of protein in volunteers' blood to assess how people were ageing biologically.
This can show a person is ageing faster than their chronological age, the number of birthdays they've had, would suggest.
Commenting Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation said: ‘Your income, postcode and background shouldn’t determine your chances of living a long and healthy life.
'But this pioneering study reinforces that this is the reality for far too many people.'
'We urgently need bold action from Government to target the surmountable barriers to good health that too many people in the UK are facing.’
Professor Felicity Gavins, an expert in pharmacology at Brunel University of London, also welcomed the 'exciting study'.
'The fact that most of the risk factors identified are modifiable highlights an enormous opportunity for prevention,' she said.
'By addressing social inequalities, promoting healthy behaviours and reducing harmful exposures, we can really make a meaningful difference in reducing age-related diseases and premature mortality.'
Dr Stephen Burgess, an expert in biostatistics at the University of Cambridge, added: '(The study) provides further demonstration supporting previous research that, in the majority of cases, our genes do not determine our future.'
'There are exceptions, including rare conditions that are caused by a single genetic variation, but for the majority of conditions that Western people die from, disease risk is more strongly attributable to modifiable risk factors and our wider environment, as shaped by our upbringing and choices.
'Genetics can load the dice, but it is up to us how we play our hand.'
The results come just a day after concerning research suggested bulging waistlines in England have caused the country's life expectancy to plunge in the European life expectancy rankings.
After decades of progress, attempts to keep people living longer are beginning to fail, with people in England now living roughly nine months less than they did in 2011.
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