Final answer:
The primary cause of preventable cancer deaths in the United States is smoking tobacco. Excessive alcohol intake is a significant risk factor but not the leading cause. Lifestyle choices like diet and exercise are also critical in preventing cancer deaths.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary cause of preventable cancer deaths in the United States is not excessive alcohol intake but smoking tobacco. Smoking is responsible for about 31% of all cancer deaths, making it the leading preventable risk factor. In contrast, excessive alcohol consumption is also a known risk factor for certain types of cancer, including mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, breast, colon, and rectum cancers. Nonetheless, it ranks lower than tobacco use in terms of cancer mortality.
Other significant but preventable environmental risk factors include an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and obesity, which collectively account for approximately 35% of cancer deaths. These lifestyle choices play a critical role in cancer prevention. For instance, maintaining a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, and a healthy weight could significantly lower cancer mortality rates. Moreover, exposure to environmental carcinogens like radon and ultraviolet radiation from the sun also contribute to cancer risk, particularly lung and skin cancer, respectively.
It is thus vital for public health strategies to focus on promoting lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, engaging in physical activity, and maintaining a balanced diet, to help prevent a considerable number of cancer cases and deaths.