Cancer
Table of contents
Healthy lifestyle choices
There is general agreement that lifestyle, including diet, impacts risk of cancer, although the extent to which this is true varies greatly among specific types of cancer. This may be due in part to the fact that cancer is not a single disease; it is actually different cancer types with different etiologies.
The best available evidence relating diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer comes from World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) International and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). The WCRF and AICR are the leading global authorities in cancer prevention research related to lifestyle.
Healthy lifestyle and cancer
Cancer survivors are people who have been diagnosed with cancer, including those who have recovered from the disease. The WCRF experts agree that the overall cancer prevention recommendations are also relevant to cancer survivors and recommend that, as far as possible, cancer survivors should aim to follow these recommendations post treatment (https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer).
More specifically, the Expert Panel of WCRF in its Continuing Update Programme, has reviewed the evidence for the effect of lifestyle factors on the survival and future risk of breast cancer patients. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and breast cancer incidence increased worldwide by 20 per cent between 2008 and 2012. In general survival rates for breast cancer have improved. The reason is twofold: (1) the majority of breast cancer cases are diagnosed at an earlier and localised stage; and (2) improved treatments are available.
References
- American Inst. for Cancer Research. Soya is safe for breast cancer survivors [Internet]. 2012 [cited 13th April 2018]. Available from: http://www.aicr.org/cancer-research-update/2012/november_21_2012/cru-soya-safe.html
Baglia ML, Zheng W, Li H et al. The association of soya food consumption with the risk of subtype of breast cancers defined by hormone receptor and HER2 status. Intern J Cancer. 2016;139(4):742-8.
EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS). Risk assessment for peri- and post-menopausal women taking food supplements containing isolated isoflavones. EFSA J. 2015;13(10):4246, 342 pp.
Shu XO, Zheng Y, Gu K, Cai H, Zheng W. Soya food intake and breast cancer survival. JAMA 2009;302:2437-43.
WCRF. Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a global perspective - The Third Expert Report. 2018. Washington, AICR. Ref Type: Report
- WCRF Intern. Continuous Update Project. Breast cancer survivors: how diet, nutrition and physical activity affect breast cancer survival [Internet]. 2018 [cited 7/24/2018]. Available from: https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/breast-cancer-survivors
