Frequently asked questions

Why was breast cancer updated first?

Breast cancer was updated first as it is a common cancer with many research papers published each year. It was also important to choose a cancer with a large number of research papers in order to develop the structure and accessibility of the new CUP database.

Why don’t you update all the cancer sites at the same time?

We have chosen to initially update cancers one by one for practical reasons. There is a single research team working on the project at Imperial College London. For the Second Expert Report there were seven centres and each centre worked on one cancer at a time and conducted the reviews for up to four different cancer types.

Once a cancer has been updated the CUP team will keep the evidence up-to-date. We aim by 2015 to have the CUP database up-to-date for all cancers. It will then be possible to work on keeping all the cancers up-to-date at the same time.

Where can I access the CUP findings?

The CUP findings are accessible from resource downloads. Reports on updated evidence and summaries with the Panel's judgements for breast and colorectal cancers are available for download. Other cancer reports will be added as they become available. You can find short updates on the progress for other cancers.

A CUP progress report summarises the main achievements and findings to date. The CUP findings will also be presented at conferences and published as journal papers.

Can I access the data used in the CUP?

The database will be made available to the wider scientific community once it is up-to-date. Researchers in all countries will be able to access a comprehensive and state of the art resource based on a live system of scientific data. It will be possible to interrogate and utilise the data to investigate the relationship between diet, physical activity, obesity and cancer.
In the meantime, the database, as it develops, is available to researchers on request as the information is being continuously updated. Email info@dietandcancerreport.org for further details.

Can I access the SLRs from the 2007 Second Expert Report?

The full systematic literature reviews prepared by the research centres are available from resource downloads.

Why doesn’t the CUP look at every type of cancer?

The CUP concentrates on cancers where there is evidence of an association with food, nutrition and physical activity. If new evidence of a link for other cancers becomes available, then it will be possible to add them to the database, depending on available resources.

The CUP also reviews the evidence on cancer survivorship and here too will concentrate on the cancers where food, nutrition and physical activity have been shown to affect survival.