The Policy Report: Overview
The Second Expert Report is the most authoritative and comprehensive report ever published on diet and cancer. It lays out personal recommendations for people as well as goals for the population as a whole. However, setting these targets is just one step. Equally important is understanding how to achieve them successfully.
A companion publication to the Second Expert Report addresses why people practice particular eating and physical eating habits over a lifetime. It looks at the success of studies that have been designed to change those behaviours.
This companion Policy Report, entitled Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, provides advice and guidance on what can be done to influence and change the lifestyle choices that people make, as they relate to their risk of cancer. It was published in February 2009.
In the same way as the Second Expert Report has been developed using a systematic approach to the literature and evidence, the Policy Report has, as its starting point, two systematic literature reviews (SLRs) which underpin its recommendations. The first SLR considered published evidence on the determinants of diet and physical activity and the second considered the published evidence on the effectiveness of existing interventions.
The Policy Report recommendations are addressed to actors - those people who make decision or policy in relevant areas, at all levels from United Nations agencies to families. The recommendations within the Policy Report are as practical and applicable as possible. They are based on the evidence gleaned from the SLR process, the collective experience of the panel, the scientific knowledge acquired during the development of the Second Expert Report and existing guidelines produced by other organisations. Each recommendation takes both the strength of evidence and the likely impact of that intervention into account.
The Policy Report was produced by the same expert panel and an additional three scientists with relevant expertise in policy issues. The additional members for the policy panel are:
Barry Popkin PhD MSc BSc
Carolina Population Center
University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Jane Wardle PhD MPhil
University College London, UK
Nick Cavill MPH
British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group
University of Oxford, UK