BEING overweight could overtake smoking as the biggest preventable cause of cancer, according to a new study.

Figures from the NHS underline the scale of the risks for people in Waverley where 57 per cent are overweight or obese. The warning on weight comes from Cancer Research UK in a study that found nearly 40 per cent of all cancers could be avoided with lifestyle changes.

The biggest preventable cause of cancer is smoking. According to the latest figures, nine per cent of people classed themselves as smokers in 2016 in Waverley, with men more likely to smoke than women. Since 2012 the proportion of smokers has fallen from 16 per cent.

Smoking is responsible for 221 deaths in every 100,000 people over 35 in Surrey as a whole.

But Cancer Research UK warns that the growing waistlines will pose a serious new threat to health.

Chief executive Sir Harpal Kumar said: “Obesity is potentially the new smoking, if we’re not careful. My sense would be it’ll be some time in next couple of decades that we’ll see those two switch around.”

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that smoking is responsible for around 55,000 cases nationally in 2015/16. Excess weight is the second biggest preventable cause.