Second Expert Report: Overview

Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, is a comprehensive analysis of the literature on food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer.

It builds on the foundation, first established by the WCRF global network in 1982, to analyse, interpret and make public the available scientific evidence to help individuals to reduce their risk of developing cancer.

This work began in 1982 when the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) took the US National Academy of Science expert report "Diet and Cancer" and sought permission to print and distribute 30,000 copies to scientists, policy makes and health professionals in the US.

First Expert Report

WCRF/AICR continued the tradition by publishing its own report, Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, in 1997. This report was a catalyst for change, creating great opportunities for advancement in the area of diet and cancer prevention. Its publication stimulated a surge in research in the field.

Since then, advances in technology have revolutionised the way that information is collected and analysed.

Second Expert Report

As a result, in 2001, WCRF/AICR set itself a new objective: to systematically review and assess the body of evidence on food nutrition, physical activity and cancer and to publish a Second Expert Report Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective.

This report is the largest study of its kind and its conclusions are as definitive as the available evidence allows.

Keeping the evidence current

The WCRF global network is committed to interpreting scientific evidence in this field and has set up the Continuous Update Project to keep the evidence database up to date on an ongoing basis.