Cancer Prevention Blog

Understanding why you crave unhealthy foods is one step towards beating them.

If you started 2012 with a resolution to lose weight or give up unhealthy foods, you may be finding it hard to keep to your good intentions.  If that’s the case, understanding why you crave certain (often unhealthy) foods at regular intervals throughout the day is one step towards beating those cravings.

Everyone experiences cravings from time to time.  But why is it that we suddenly want chocolate after a healthy meal?  Why … Continue Reading

Fibre can protect against cancer

This week scientists funded by World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) found that eating ten grams of fibre daily lowers women’s risk of breast cancer by five per cent.

And as the effect is cumulative, eating 20 grams would mean a ten per cent lower risk and so on.

The research – part of WCRF/AICR’s Continuous Update Project (CUP) – is one of the largest analyses of literature relating to breast cancer and fibre and was published in the Annals … Continue Reading

Choosing less energy dense food can reduce cancer risk

Last month World Cancer Research Fund commissioned a survey by YouGov to try to assess what people really know about the number of calories in the foods they eat on a regular basis.

Today these results were published in several national newspapers – the Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Times, Metro and i – as well as featuring on Sky News, BBC London and Heart FM.

The poll was also reported by the Press Association … Continue Reading

WCRF UK attended the BACC in Westminster

Last week I attended the Britain Against Cancer Conference in London. For WCRF UK this was a really important event and was a key opportunity to highlight the role of food, nutrition and physical activity in cancer prevention.

Macmillan Cancer Support organised this conference on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer, with the support of MPs and Members of the House of Lords. It was hugely successful in getting all the key cancer organisations, health professionals … Continue Reading

High blood pressure may be linked to brain cancer

Research funded by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has featured on Sky News and in several national newspapers after a possible link between high-blood pressure and brain cancer was discovered.

Head of Education Kate Mendoza gave interviews for Sky and the study was the subject of stories in the Daily Mail and the London Evening Standard, among others.

Kate told Sky viewers how the research – by scientists in Austria, Sweden and Norway – reinforced the … Continue Reading

Plant foods: one of the things that can reduce cancer risk

A new study being covered in the media today has found that more than 130,000 cancers a year are linked to lifestyle and environmental factors.

The findings of this study by the well-respected Professor Max Parkin suggest that as well as tobacco, many cancer cases are linked to lifestyle factors such as obesity, alcohol and lack of fruits and vegetables.

The new study follows a … Continue Reading

The worrying news that Britain tops the list for oesophageal cancer among our European neighbours was high on the news agenda today, with coverage in a number of daily newspapers.

The Daily Mail, Daily Express, Metro, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph and Guardian were among the papers to report on figures from WCRF showing how the UK compares unfavourably with other European nations, with 6.4 out of every 100,000 developing the disease every year – nearly double the European average of 3.3 per 100,000.

Our press release was also reported on by a number of influential regional … Continue Reading

Maya Monteiro, World Cancer Research Fund’s Senior Education Manager, attended the Nutrition and Health Conference in London last week as part of the expert panel. Here is her account of the event:

I was asked to sit on an expert panel at the Nutrition and Health Conference in London on Friday, alongside two nurses, a dietitian, a nutrition manager for Waitrose and the director of communications for the Food and Drink Federation.

We were there to discuss diet and lifestyle, and how we could make the kinds of changes needed to turn the UK’s health around.

Health professionals made up the majority … Continue Reading

Kate Mendoza speaks to the BBC about healthy lunchboxes

I was feeling quite nervous this morning as I arrived at Kingsmeade primary school in Hackney where the BBC was filming for its breakfast show – and where I was due to do my first live TV interview.

Although it was daunting, it was also fantastic to have the opportunity to talk to so many viewers about the importance of healthy school lunchboxes.

From our experience of … Continue Reading

Eggs and prostate cancer: are they linked?

A new study is being reported in the media as suggesting a link between eggs and prostate cancer.

The findings of the study – that men who ate 2.5 or more eggs a week compared to men who ate less than half an egg week were 82% more likely to develop fatal prostate cancer – are certainly interesting.

But on their own they are not reliable enough to warrant … Continue Reading