Cancer rate in Iran is on the rise. Five important risk factors causing around 30% of cancer incidences include, high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, smoking and alcohol, said Dr. Esmaeil Akbari, head of the Cancer Research Center, affiliated to Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. “In the previous calendar year (ended March 20, 2015) 41,000 Iranians lost their lives due to the disease,” the Persian-language newspaper ‘Iran’ quoted him as saying.
