LAUSR

In 2021, awareness levels of the main types and causes of cancer show that they are a lot higher than 30 years ago. The 2021 Union for International Cancer Control Public Opinion Survey on Cancer identified that 87% of the global population are aware of at least one of the core cancer risk factors. What the general population is less aware of, however, are the various ways that people can potentially reduce their risk of getting cancer where diet, nutrition and physical activity are concerned. World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) was established in the United Kingdom in 1990 as the only cancer charity that aimed to create and build awareness of the relationship between diet and cancer risk and to focus funding on research into diet and cancer prevention. In 1997, WCRF and American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published a landmark Expert Report that confirmed how diet, weight and physical activity could have a huge impact on cancer risk. The charity published a Second Expert Report in 2007, and this was then followed by the launch of updated findings in its 2018 Third Expert Report, Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a Global Perspective. These findings drew on evidence from 51 million people and were summarised via WCRF's authoritative 10 Cancer Prevention Recommendations. To date over 40 studies reviewing adherence to the WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations in different countries and populations have shown that the more closely you follow these recommendations, the lower your risk of developing cancer. The sheer volume of research, the rigorous analysis, and the independent evaluation behind these recommendations make them the most reliable advice available on diet, nutrition, and physical activity in relation to cancer prevention. It also strengthens the evidence that it is our diet and exercise patterns (and of course whether or not you smoke) across the life course that makes us more or less susceptible to cancer development and progression. Looking back at how much attitudes and understanding around diet, nutrition and health have changed since the charity’s formation, it is easy to see how much WCRF has influenced the scientific debate. This particularly applies where increased awareness of cancer and obesity is concerned. However, achieving wider understanding and acceptance by the general public of all 10 of our Recommendations (including around reduced consumption of red and processed meat, or the eating of more grains, vegetables, fruit and beans) has been a much more difficult task. This is mainly because the messages are not easy to hear, that is, what you eat, how much you weigh or how much you move, will potentially increase or decrease your risk of cancer. Governments, the media and people also naturally focus more on the issues and fears around cancer diagnosis and survival, and the on-going search for a cure. Nevertheless, WCRF's research shows that while one in two people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime, 40% of all those cases could be prevented. This is equivalent to 147 000 people every year in the United Kingdom alone who develop a preventable cancer. As more countries adopt “Western” lifestyles—including diets with high consumption of red and processed meat, large amounts of highly processed foods and a mostly sedentary pattern of behaviour— the number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise from 18 million globally in 2018 to 30 million by 2040. So whilst scientists search for ever more effective treatments for specific cancers, which could be expensive and may not be easy for developing countries to access, there is an increasing need to take a more preventative approach to cancer to help ease this burden on people's lives as well as their countries' respective health systems. In aiming to raise the general public's awareness and understanding of how they might go about reducing their risk of cancer, it is therefore crucial that such work is backed up by robust research and strong evidence. This is especially so against a backdrop of messaging that's not yet well known or accepted by the general population. Such issues were also discussed at the Second International DKFZ Conference on Cancer Prevention. With this in mind, WCRF's new Cancer Prevention Awareness Week campaign (March 20-26, 2021) will seek to highlight to the UK public the latest guidance and messages on cancer prevention. It will ask people to sign a “Prevention Pledge” in support of WCRF's 10 key recommendations, pledging to make them part of their everyday lives. It will also encourage people to sign up to a new 8-week interactive healthy living plan, potentially helping participants to avoid a preventable cancer diagnosis or other chronic diseases in the longer term if their participation then leads to on-going behaviour change. WCRF will also seek to underpin and support its campaign through the release to the media of the results of a new You Gov poll around awareness of cancer prevention measures along with new cancer prevention research findings by Professor Ed Giovannucci of Harvard University. This new epidemiological research will highlight how two common forms of cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast cancer, are more preventable than previous research studies have shown. Professor Giovannucci's recently published study focused on understanding better how changes in a US population-level exposure to eight modifiable risk factors is key to reducing cancer incidence. The study also compared two entirely different population attributable risk DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33542