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The Role of Nutrition in Cancer Prevention

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Epidemiologic Studies in Cancer Prevention and Screening

Part of the book series: Statistics for Biology and Health ((SBH,volume 79))

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Abstract

30 years ago diet (excluding alcohol) was estimated to account for the greatest proportion of cancers (about 35 %) worldwide, but there was a lot of uncertainty and this was before the identification of infective causes; smoking was estimated to cause 30 % of global cancers. Since then, migrant studies have shown two- to fourfold changes in cancer incidence once people have migrated and changed their diet, but it has taken numerous studies with increasing emphasis on large prospective studies to begin to reveal specific dietary factors which either promote or inhibit specific cancers. Yet animal experiments have provided ample evidence that diet profoundly affects the susceptibility to cancer, and the increasing understanding of the multiple steps of genetic change which lead to cancer has also been related to specific mutagenic and protective factors in food. Human dietary studies to assess relevant hormonal and mutagen generation changes can be illuminating but are too sparse in comparison with the huge effort put into epidemiological studies. Exhaustive literature searches and meta-analyses reveal an array of foods with probable or convincing cancer promotional or protective properties. Obesity is now also emerging as a major risk factor, and new evidence highlights the problem of obtaining valid dietary data in large numbers of subjects needed in epidemiological studies. So an emphasis on biomarker studies of both intake and the carcinogenic process is needed as are dietary trials in cancer survivors. Evidence is growing that the contribution of diet in the causation of has previously been underestimated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, International Association for the Study of Obesity, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, WC1N 2JU, London, UK

    W. Philip T. James

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  1. W. Philip T. James
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Correspondence to W. Philip T. James .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, 392 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, L6J 1J8, Ontario, Canada

    Anthony B. Miller

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James, W.P.T. (2013). The Role of Nutrition in Cancer Prevention. In: Miller, A. (eds) Epidemiologic Studies in Cancer Prevention and Screening. Statistics for Biology and Health, vol 79. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5586-8_8

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