'Cancer directly linked to obesity'

We should be at the lower end of the healthy weight range, says a landmark report issued today by the World Cancer Research Fund, that links body fat and cancer more closely than ever before.

The study is the most thorough ever published on the link between cancer and diet, physical activity and weight.

It includes 10 recommendations from a panel of 21 world-renowned scientists that represent the most authoritative advice that has ever been available on how the general public can prevent cancer.

And its key finding is that maintaining a healthy weight (a BMI of 20-25) is one of the most important things you can do to prevent cancer.

The number of types of cancer where there is "convincing" evidence that body fat is a cause has risen from one to six since the last WCRF report was published in 1997, including colorectal cancer and post-menopausal breast cancer.

Prof Sir Michael Marmot, chair of the panel, said: "We are recommending that people aim to be as lean as possible within the healthy range, and that they avoid weight gain throughout adulthood.

"This might sound difficult, but this is what the science is telling us more clearly than ever before. The fact is that putting on weight can increase your cancer risk, even if you are still within the healthy range.

"So the best advice for cancer prevention is to avoid weight gain, and if you are already overweight then you should aim to lose weight."

Other findings in the report include "convincing" evidence that if you eat more than 500g a week of processed red meats, you are increasing the risk of colorectal cancer

In the first breastfeeding recommendation ever made by a cancer charity, mothers are advised to breastfeed exclusively for six months and to continue with complementary breastfeeding after that.

This is because of "convincing" evidence that breastfeeding protects the mother against breast cancer and "probable" evidence that it protects the child against obesity later in life.

Dietary supplements are not recommended for cancer prevention and the evidence that alcohol is a cause of cancer is stronger now than ever before.

Professor Martin Wiseman, project director of the report, said: "This report is a real milestone in the fight against cancer, because its recommendations represent the most definitive advice on preventing cancer that has ever been available anywhere in the world.

"If people follow our recommendations, they can be confident they are following the best advice possible based on all the scientific research done up to this point."

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Fiona Adshead, who is in charge of delivering on the government's obesity target, said: "We have already made progress in tackling obesity with improved physical activity levels at school, healthier school food for children, clearer food labelling but we know that we need to go further and faster.

'We want to see the positive work by the food industry continued with more and more retailers and manufacturers adopting the traffic light model to make it easier for people to make the right food choices. We are encouraging the most sedentary people to get more active through pedometer schemes and some physical activity pilots based in GP surgeries."

Professor Mike Richards, the government's clinical director for cancer, said: "The WCRF report is the most authoritative and exhaustive review done thus far on the prevention of cancer through food, nutrition and physical activity."

Accompanying report by Jane Dodge

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