Cancer Prevention

The latest study on the links between food, physical activity, and Cancer is all over the media. On the flight today, I came across it again on the Economist 11/3 issue. I wanted to summarize and email to Nadia and the kids, but then decided to include family and friends. So here it goes:

• Conducted by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).
• Six years of research, nine research institutes, 500000 publications reviewed (cut down to 7000 relevant ones).
• Roughly 3 main categories equally responsible for cancer cases:
• Smoking is responsible for 3rd
  
• Poor food and lack of exercise another 3rd
• Other (genetic predisposition, ultraviolet sunlight ..etc) is responsible for the final third.
• To reduce the risk of cancer, in addition to not smoking, do the following(see report/article for additional details):
  
• Keep body mass index (BMI) between 21 and 23 (BMI= Weight in Kg divided by Height in meters squared). This is very important, it used to be 18.5-24.9. You can calculate your BMI by clicking here. on http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.
  
• Be physically active. At least walk briskly 30 mins a day.
• Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.
  
• Limit intake of red meat to no more than 300g/week.
  
• Avoid processed meat.
• Limit consumption of salt to less than 5 grams a day.
• Avoid moldy serials. (whatever that is) ..
  
• Meet nutritional needs through diet alone (do not use dietary supplements).

• The article is available on economist.com (has a lot of very interesting information).
  
• The report is available at http://www.wcrf.org/