A third of cancers are preventable, an expert claims.

An estimated 95,000 people in the UK each year are diagnosed with cancers that could be avoided - enough to fill Wembley Stadium.

Professor Martin Wiseman said that while many people know that smoking is the most important cause of the disease, more needs to be done to get across the message about cancers caused by other lifestyle choices.

A third of all cancers are thought to be preventable through healthy eating, regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.

Prof Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser for the World Cancer Research Fund, said the number diagnosed with preventable disease would more than fill the new Wembley Stadium, which holds 90,000 people.

“When you think about what Wembley Stadium looks like when it’s full of people, it is a sobering thought that every year in the UK we estimate that even more people than this are diagnosed with a cancer that might have been prevented,” he said.

“When health charities talk about numbers of cases, it can often be difficult to really comprehend what that means. But we hope that by comparing it to something that is easier to imagine like the capacity of Wembley, we will be able show the scale of the problem that we face.”

The charity has a series of recommendations to cut the risk of cancer, including encouraging people to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.

Everyone should be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day and avoid sugary drinks and processed foods high in added sugar, salt, or low in fibre.

People should also eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, wholegrains and pulses and limit their intake of red and processed meat. Alcohol should also be limited to two drinks for men and one for women.