Editorial: Results of health studies should call us to action

The bad news: a recent report makes no bones about it. Being overweight not only increases your chances of developing problems such as diabetes and heart disease, it also makes it more likely you will contract cancer.

The good news: as everyone knows, you can actually make some pretty simply changes to your lifestyle that will greatly improve your health.

The report, "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective" was compiled over five years and amounts to 500 pages. The American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund analyzed more than 7,000 clinical trials in compiling the report.

According to the report's authors it is "the most comprehensive ever published on the evidence linking cancer risk to diet, physical activity and weight."

And guess what: If you have a lousy diet, don't get much exercise and are overweight, you have a greater chance of getting cancer.

We suspect most people are not truly surprised by that finding. But that doesn't mean the news is welcome or even believed by some. So many medical findings zoom across our front pages, TVs and computer screens, and so often they seem to contradict each other.

Is it good or bad to drink red wine this week? Am I better off eating margarine or butter? Does an aspirin a day keep the heart doctor away, or burn a hole in the lining of my stomach?

We agree there is plenty of confusion on details out there, and we suspect we - the media - are more than a little to blame. It's hard to ignore a juicy new report that finally has determined why we are fat, or getting cancer, or going bald or impotent or whatever malady is being analyzed.

And, yes, some of those studies seem to eventually contradict each other.

So why should anyone pay attention to this mammoth report? Well, in part, this is not a study. This is a compilation of thousands of studies. And rather than finding contradictions, scientists found time and time again a linkage between certain behaviors/conditions and cancer.

Most of us long ago accepted the linkage between smoking and certain cancers. But far fewer of us have even contemplated the linkage of being obese and contracting cancer.

"This is the first report that clearly shows that the fatter we are, the greater the risk of cancer. It's remarkable how clear that link is," co-author and London-based researcher Dr. W. Philip James told CBS News last week.

The report suggests that obesity, which has ballooned in recent years especially in the United States, is "approaching smoking as a cancer risk." There is some good news in that statement. Fewer people are smoking, which is probably one reason obesity is looking like a greater cancer threat. Unfortunately, it's also because a lot more people are becoming obese.

Unfortunately, many people are going to remember this study for one item above all others - the warning to cut down on consumption of red meat. The report suggests not eating more than 18 ounces of red meat per week. That's less than some people eat in a sitting.

We suspect in the long run, if you exercise daily, add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, don't smoke, drink in moderation, you could sneak an extra hamburger each week and still be pretty healthy. This report actually confirms that we already know what is healthy for us - now we just need to practice what we know.