International Panel of Experts Meets to Produce World's Most Comprehensive, Influential Diet-Cancer Report

American Institute for Cancer Research
Tuesday, 13 May 2003

"Systematic, Transparent, Objective" Methodology Will Evaluate Approximately 10,000 Scientific Studies; End Public Confusion About Diet-Cancer Connection

A Panel of the world's leading cancer and nutrition experts met today in London under the auspices of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International.) The meeting marked an early stage of a process that will reach its conclusion in 2006, with the publication of a report that will definitively evaluate the mass of scientific evidence about the roles of food, nutrition and physical activity in the causation and prevention of cancer.

The Panel, comprising 20 researchers from 12 different countries, includes 5 members from the US: Tim Byers, M.D, M.P.H., Vice Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Laurence Kolonel, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Cancer Research Center at the University of Hawaii; Shiriki Kumanyika, Ph.D, Head of the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Fork, Indiana and Professor of Epidemiology at the Center For Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Arthur Schatzkin, M.D., Dr. P.H., Chief of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute; and Walter Willett, M.D., Dr. P.H., Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

This was the panel's first meeting, which is charged with producing a new report to replace the 1997 report from AICR/WCRF entitled Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective. That report is widely regarded as the most comprehensive and authoritative examination of the link between diet and cancer risk ever undertaken.

"The 1997 report compiled and analyzed the diet-cancer research completed at the time - over 4,500 studies - and issued a series of dietary recommendations that are now central to public health initiatives around the globe," said Panel Chair Robert Beaglehole, currently working at the World Health Organization in Geneva. Professor Beaglehole, who is on leave from his position as Professor of Community Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, noted that international agencies, governments, researchers, academics, health professionals, communities, families and individuals have since adopted the report's conclusions.

Chief among these conclusions is the assertion that simple, everyday choices - the adoption of diets rich in vegetables, fruits and other plant foods, regular physical activity and maintenance of a healthy weight - could prevent between 30 and 40 percent of cancer cases worldwide, similar to the effect from stopping smoking.

"The report effectively focused international scientific attention on the diet-cancer link and inspired further research," Professor Beaglehole said. "In the few years since its initial publication, in fact, the number of scientific studies that have investigated the diet-cancer link has already more than doubled."

Unfortunately, many of these more recent studies have been singled out, removed from their scientific context and widely publicized, which has served to confuse members of the public.

"The time has come to revisit the scientific evidence using the most modern systematic approaches to ensure as objective a view as possible," said Panel Member Dr. Arthur Schatzkin of NCI.

"That means adopting a transparent methodology that's capable of weighing the approximately 10,000 published studies completed to date. This new method will allow us to consider epidemiological studies, laboratory studies, and human trials together."

The new expert report will rank the accumulated evidence for links between food intake, nutrition status, physical activity levels and the risk of specific cancers. It will also include a series of recommendations geared not only to individuals but also to governments, industry and entire communities. Unlike the first AICR/WCRF International expert report, the new report will also address the evidence for any impact of food and nutrition on the progress of cancers once diagnosed.

"It is a mammoth undertaking," agreed Dr. Schatzkin, "but one that will ultimately answer lingering questions about the precise nature of the diet-cancer link, and, in so doing, help save millions of lives."

For more information, or to contact American Institute for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.aicr.org