Nutrition and Cancer - Translating Science into Practice. Symposium Summary

摘要

This symposium explored the need for new approaches to combating cancer through dietary change. How scientific evidence is used to develop new policies has been little explored. Then the global problem of setting strategies for limiting the impact of cancers through dietary change has usually been left to the judgement of national groups even though there is increasing evidence of the benefit of particular approaches to achieving dietary change. In the 1997 WCRF Report increased emphasis was given to the value of using the results from several major cohort studies before assessing the degree of confidence that one could have in a food or nutrient's role in cancer development. These conclusions, however, also needed to be biologically plausible, consistent with other approaches to assessing the problem and in keeping with the broader global picture derived from ecological analyses. It is noteworthy that the generally accepted proportion of cancers preventable by diet has remained unchanged since Doll and Peto decades ago based their analyses on relatively crude cross-cultural global analyses of cancer rates, diet and other indices of societal differences. This perspective highlighted some of the limitations of cohort studies, the persistence of this analysis emphasises the value of ensuring the greatest scientific credibility in any future analyses.