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

Keeping lean helps reduce cancer risk

At the heart of World Cancer Research Fund’s (WCRF) message are our 10 Recommendations for Cancer Prevention.

These came about from the Second Expert Report – published in 2007 – and were developed by a panel of 21 international experts looking at nearly 7,000 research studies from all over the world.

Certain foods, drinks and lifestyle factors were judged and the panel came to a conclusion about whether a particular factor was linked to cancer, as well as the strength … 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

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

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

Today WCRF has been addressing the strange situation in hospitals where vending machines packed with energy dense foods sit in the corridors used by patients suffering from heart disease, cancer and other diseases in which being overweight is a factor.

Dr Rachel Thompson, Deputy Head of Science at WCRF, wrote an article for BBC News’ online health column Scrubbing Up in which she pointed out how the machines packed with chocolate, crisps and sugary soft drinks are undermining the hard work of dedicated health workers.

This is because there is strong evidence that excessive body fat is a risk factor for … Continue Reading

Exercise and cancer

We’re often asked about the link between exercise and cancer.

But we do not tend to use the term “exercise and cancer” in our publications. Instead, we talk about physical activity rather than exercise.

To some people, this might seem odd. In fact, when we use the term “physical activity” in press releases it is often changed to “exercise” in the resulting news article.

The Guardian’s coverage of our press release about how 10,000 breast and bowel cancer cases … Continue Reading

Is your weekend activity helping to reduce your cancer risk?

If you spent the bank holiday weekend gardening or doing DIY, you may not realise it but you were helping to reduce your cancer risk.

As well as helping to maintain a healthy weight, there is now strong evidence that physical activity itself can help to protect against a variety of cancers.

What counts as physical activity?

The key is to remember that anything that gets you moving will benefit your health. The more activity you … Continue Reading

Are we failing to see the truth?

Following today’s report, which proposes Governments get tough on obesity, we look at recent research, which suggests that a skewed perception of body weight may also be a barrier to effective weight loss.

Obesity-related illness

Recently published figures on obesity, physical activity and diet show that around a quarter of adults in England were obese in 2009 [1]. Today’s report suggests this figure is set to rise in the UK to 40% by 2030.

The … Continue Reading

Fast Food: suitable for Olympic sponsorship?

There is an interesting debate in the media at the moment following the announcement that McDonald’s is to open its biggest restaurant at the Olympic Park.

Writing in the Daily Mail on Saturday, Des Kelly questioned the decision to allow McDonald’s to be an Olympic sponsor because fast foods promote obesity.

Then in The Times today, Matthew Syed defended the decision to have McDonald’s as an Olympic sponsor. The article … Continue Reading