Professor Karol Sikora: It's not quite true that you can do nothing to prevent cancer, but there are things you can't control

A study in the United States is suggesting that two-thirds of cancers are caused by bad luck rather than lifestyle factors such as diet or bad genes.

The oncologist Professor Karol Sikora, dean of the University of Buckingham's medical school, told Today's Mishal Husain: "The whole concept of the risk of getting cancer is a very confusing area."

"The researchers looked at 31 different tissues ...and they found that cancer occurs because of mutation during cell division."

"You can affect that by environment and what you do. It's not quite true that you can do nothing to prevent cancer ...but there are things you can't control."

First broadcast Today programme 2 January 2015.