Hacker News Reader

> "we know that things like bad diet, inactivity, obesity and alcohol can also cause cancer"

No, we actually don't know that.

I would say that correlation isn't causation, but for at least 3 of those factors I'm pretty sure we don't even have the correlation.

This sentence here spoiled the entire article for me, as this is IMO an unacceptable mistake for a science journalist.

Correlation is indeed not causation. However all four statements hold true for correlation. And at least alcohol can cause cancer.

- Bad diet: for example red meat increases risk of colorectal cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4698595/

- alcohol increases risk of head and neck, oesophageal, liver, breast, colorectal caner and many others . https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/a...

> - physical activity reduces the risk of many cancers

Logical fallacy.

I'm interested in what way this could be a logical fallacy. Would you care to expand?