Better adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recommendations on cancer prevention was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of all cancers, according to a new study. study published in the journal. BMC Medicine.1
Modifiable lifestyle factors are known to increase the risk of common cancers, such as colorectal and breast. In an effort to reduce overall cancer risk, the WCRF and AICR published 10 prevention recommendations in 2007. The recommendations, updated in 2018, encourage a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and practicing of physical activity.
“Several studies have investigated associations between adherence to WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations and risk of cancer diagnosis, cancer survival, and other health-related outcomes,” the authors wrote. “However, most studies to date have assessed compliance with the earlier version of the recommendations, dating from 2007…”
A team of researchers from the University of Newcastle and the University of Glasgow conducted a study to assess the associations between adherence to WCRF/AICR prevention recommendations and the risk of all cancers combined and 14 cancers for which there is strong evidence of links with lifestyle factors.
Data was collected from 94,778 participants from the UK Biobank, a prospective cohort study investigating how genetic predispositions and environmental factors may contribute to the development of the disease. The Biobank study included 5,000,000 participants from 22 centers in England, Scotland and Wales between 2006 and 2010.
Associations between total score and cancer risk were analyzed using a Cox proportional hazard model and adjusted for age, sex, deprivation index, race ethnicity and smoking status.
Investigators found that 7,296 participants developed cancer during a median follow-up period of 8 years. The 3 most common types of cancer were prostate, breast and colorectal. There was a significant inverse association between the total adherence score and the risk of all cancers combined, which equated to a 7% reduction in risk per 1 point increment in score.
Compared to those with the lowest scores, participants at medium and high score levels had an 8% and 16% lower risk of developing all types of cancer, respectively. Additionally, there was a 10% reduction in breast and colorectal cancer, 18% risk of kidney cancer, 16% risk of esophageal cancer, 22% risk of liver cancer and a 24% risk of ovarian cancer. , and a 30% lower risk of gallbladder cancer.
Limitations of the study include that the UK Biobank study cohort is not representative of the general population, that cancer screening was not included as a potential confounder, and that some cancers are not did not have a large number of cases due to a small cohort size.
“Our findings support the promotion of adherence to the 2018 WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations in the UK,” the authors concluded. “Further research to better understand which recommendations drive the observed associations with cancer risk, as well as to explore the weightings assigned to individual components (currently all seven or eight components have the same weighting) would be helpful. »
