Cancer Prevention Blog

Dr Chris Wild at the WCRF conference

You may have read on this blog about World Cancer Research Fund’s (WCRF) scientific conference on cancer prevention earlier this month.

Well now you can see it for yourself, as we have uploaded videos of some of the speakers to our website:

Dr Francesco Branca: The Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development at the World Health Organization (WHO) talks about the opportunities and challenges related to … Continue Reading

Francesco Branca

Earlier this month we blogged about the lecture Dr Francesco Branca from the World Health Organization gave at our international scientific conference.

Dr Branca set out the challenge we face with cancer around the world and he particularly focused on low and middle-income countries.

A video of Dr Branca’s lecture, Nutrition & Cancer Around the World – Opportunities and Challenges, is now available online.

It is a fascinating talk and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the global issue of chronic … Continue Reading

Newspapers: reporting cancer risk

Earlier this month WCRF’s scientific conference included a session about media reporting of cancer risk and the importance of putting new research into context.

And the following day, there was an article in the media about a new study that has apparently found that watercress protects against breast cancer.

“Watercress ‘can help prevent cancer’” said the Daily Telegraph.

“Eating watercress every day could stop breast cancer tumours from growing”, reported the Daily Mail.

So should you … Continue Reading

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to the Third Sector magazine annual awards in London.

I was one of the judges for three communications categories.

The standard of entry was very high, and speaking personally it was extremely interesting to spend a morning back in July with my fellow judges discussing the merits of various campaigns or annual reports.

So it was great to be there last night to see the winners pick up their hard-earned awards.

And as well as being an enjoyable evening, it was also a good reminder of the high level of talent we are … Continue Reading

Professor Ricardo Uauy

Last week I set up an interview between The Observer and Professor Ricardo Uauy.

It was along the lines of a lecture Prof Uauy gave at World Cancer Research Fund’s (WCRF) international scientific conference earlier this month.

The headline the Observer used for the article was “Child’s cancer risks rise ‘before pregnancy“.

I would imagine this would have surprised many people.

Many of us think of making lifestyle choices to reduce cancer risk as something that is only relevant to us … Continue Reading

I was interested to read about PR Week magazine’s survey that found the public seems broadly supportive of the new London bicycle scheme.

I don’t use it personally, but a colleague does and she thinks it’s great.

But helping some of us get to work is not the only reason we at World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) are pleased to see its introduction.

This is because our cancer prevention Policy Report concluded that making it easier for people to be physically active can play an important role in cancer prevention.

So anything that helps achieve this is to be welcomed.

It … Continue Reading

Waist size: linked to cancer

One of the posters presented at the WCRF conference was about a review of the evidence on the links between body fat and cancer.

This updated the findings of WCRF’s Expert Report and confirmed that excess body fat increases risk of cancer.

It also strengthened the evidence that carrying weight around the waist in particularly harmful.

This story was covered by the Daily Mail, the Independent and the … Continue Reading

There is a lot of interest in research for cancer survivors – how do we improve survival rates and reduce the risk of cancer recurrence for this growing number of people?

At the WCRF conference today we heard insightful summaries of what we currently know and where we need more research.

Professor Josette Chor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong gave a picture of cancer survivorship in Asia.

The overriding message was that lots more research is needed on topics such as: physical activity, the Westernisation of Asian diets, traditional medicines, genetic differences and important stages of life.

Dr Michelle Harvie from the … Continue Reading

Michael Marmot

Like many chronic diseases, cancer often affects the poorest in society most.

This was one of the messages of Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s address to the conference this morning.

His presentation was a stark reminder of how much variation there is in life expectancies within different countries.

For example, life expectancy for Icelandic men is 80. In Sierra Leone, it is just 40.

Some of the most shocking figures show how life expectancy varies simply according to what part of a city you live in.

In an affluent area … Continue Reading

I was interested to hear Professor Annie Anderson tell the WCRF international conference in London today about fruit and vegetable consumption in Scotland.

It is increasing, she said, but at a worryingly slow rate.

She said that at the current rate of increase, it would take 37 years to reach the target.

This is a concern because the evidence shows that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables probably reduces risk of cancer.