Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 11;16(10):1450.
doi: 10.3390/nu16101450.

Cancer Incidence Rates in the US in 2016-2020 with Respect to Solar UVB Doses, Diabetes and Obesity Prevalence, Lung Cancer Incidence Rates, and Alcohol Consumption: An Ecological Study

Affiliations

Cancer Incidence Rates in the US in 2016-2020 with Respect to Solar UVB Doses, Diabetes and Obesity Prevalence, Lung Cancer Incidence Rates, and Alcohol Consumption: An Ecological Study

William B Grant. Nutrients. .

Abstract

This article reports the results of an ecological study of cancer incidence rates by state in the US for the period 2016-2020. The goals of this study were to determine the extent to which solar UVB doses reduced cancer risk compared to findings reported in 2006 for cancer mortality rates for the periods 1950-1969 and 1970-1794 as well as cancer incidence rates for the period 1998-2002 and to determine which factors were recently associated with cancer risk. The cancer data for non-Hispanic white (European American) men and women were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Indices were obtained for solar UVB at the surface for July 1992, and alcohol consumption, diabetes, and obesity prevalence near the 2016-2020 period. Lung cancer incidence rates were also used in the analyses as a surrogate for smoking, diet, and air pollution. The cancers for which solar UVB is significantly associated with reduced incidence are bladder, brain (males), breast, corpus uteri, esophageal, gastric, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, pancreatic, and renal cancer. Lung cancer was significantly associated with colorectal, laryngeal, and renal cancer. Diabetes was also significantly associated with breast, liver, and lung cancer. Obesity prevalence was significantly associated with breast, colorectal, and renal cancer. Alcohol consumption was associated with bladder and esophageal cancer. Thus, diet has become a very important driver of cancer incidence rates. The role of solar UVB in reducing the risk of cancer has been reduced due to people spending less time outdoors, wearing sunscreen that blocks UVB but not UVA radiation, and population increases in terms of overweight and obese individuals, which are associated with lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and the generation of systemic inflammation, which is a risk factor for cancer. A dietary approach that would reduce the risk of diabetes, obesity, lung cancer, and, therefore, cancer, would be one based mostly on whole plants and restrictions on red and processed meats and ultraprocessed foods. Solar UVB exposure for a few minutes before applying sunscreen and taking vitamin D supplements would also help reduce the risk of cancer.

Keywords: USA; alcohol consumption; cancer incidence; diabetes mellitus; diet; ecological study; lung cancer; obesity; solar UVB; vitamin D.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

I have had funding from Bio-Tech Pharmacal, Inc., (Fayetteville, AR, USA). The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter plot of CRC incidence for NHW males and females [21] vs. obesity prevalence (%) for NHW men and women in the period 2017–2019 [36].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatter plot for lung cancer incidence rates by state for NHW males and females [21] vs. diabetes mellitus prevalence (%) for 2016–2020 [34].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plot of pancreatic cancer incidence rates by state for the period 2016–2020 [21] vs. solar UVB doses for July 1992 [26].

Similar articles

References

    1. Xu J., Murphy S.L., Kochanek K.D., Arias E. Mortality in the United States, 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Atlanta, GA, USA: 2022. pp. 1–8. NCHS Data Brief.
    1. Siegel R.L., Giaquinto A.N., Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2024. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2024;74:12–49. doi: 10.3322/caac.21820. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gnagnarella P., Muzio V., Caini S., Raimondi S., Martinoli C., Chiocca S., Miccolo C., Bossi P., Cortinovis D., Chiaradonna F., et al. Vitamin D Supplementation and Cancer Mortality: Narrative Review of Observational Studies and Clinical Trials. Nutrients. 2021;13:3285. doi: 10.3390/nu13093285. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kulhanova I., Znaor A., Shield K.D., Arnold M., Vignat J., Charafeddine M., Fadhil I., Fouad H., Al-Omari A., Al-Zahrani A.S., et al. Proportion of cancers attributable to major lifestyle and environmental risk factors in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Int. J. Cancer. 2020;146:646–656. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32284. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garland C.F., Garland F.C. Do sunlight and vitamin D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Int. J. Epidemiol. 1980;9:227–231. doi: 10.1093/ije/9.3.227. - DOI - PubMed

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.