Food & Health Alliance

With a substantial amount of relevant literature being published in peer-reviewed journals. in the 1990's and the developments in scientific method, particularly in systematic approaches to producing evidence, created and justified examining the evidence and link between cancer and diet, physical activity and weight..

A rigorous process to assess evidence was involved using systematic literature reviews (SLRs), which have been used as the main basis for the Panel's judgements in the Report. The SLRs were undertaken by independent centres of research and review excellence in North America and Europe, to a common agreed protocol developed by an expert Methodology Task Force.

As a result, the judgements of the Panel now are as firmly based as the evidence and the state of the science allows, which means that some are new, some are different from those previously published and some are the same but different (same conclusion from the new evidence review methodology).

The report includes 10 recommendations from a panel of 21 world-renowned scientists on how the general public can prevent cancer. It is important to remember that these recommendations are global and may be need to be localised for health promotion messages. For example nutrient deficiency caused by poor diet due to lack of food needs different approaches to the problem of nutrient deficiency due to eating too many energy dense, nutrient poor foods.

Additionally the recommendations are two tiered and include a public health goal and a personal recommendation. For example if you take the physical activity goal 'Be physically active as part of everyday life', the public health goal is the proportion of the population that is sedentary to be halved every 10 years and average physical activity levels (PALs) to be above 1.6 ('sedentary' refers to a PAL of 1.4 or less).

The personal recommendations are to be moderately physically active (equivalent to brisk walking, for at least 30 minutes every day) and as fitness improves, aim for 60 minutes or more of moderate, or for 30 minutes or more of vigorous, physical activity every day as well and to limit sedentary habits such as watching television.

Two of the recommendations have not been included in previous reports; those on breastfeeding and for cancer survivors are new:

The full recommendations are:

• Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.
• Be physically active as part of everyday life.
• Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.
• East mostly foods of plant origin.
• Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.
• Limit alcoholic drinks.
• Limit consumption of salt. Avoid mouldy cereals (grains) or pulses (legumes).
• Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone.

Special recommendations:

• Mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed.
• Cancer survivors: follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.