(Press-News.org) Greater adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations — which encourage a healthy lifestyle — is associated with a lower risk of all cancers combined and some individual cancers such as breast cancer. The findings are published in BMC Medicine.
The 2018 WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations aim to reduce the risk of cancer by encouraging individuals to maintain a healthy weight, be physically active, and eat a diet rich in wholegrains, vegetables, fruit, and beans, but low in highly processed foods, red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks, and alcohol.
John Mathers and colleagues investigated the relationship between adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations and cancer risk by analysing UK Biobank data for 94,778 British adults, who were 56 years old on average. The researchers used self-reported dietary and physical activity data — in addition to participants’ body mass index and waist circumference measurements — to score participants’ adherence to the recommendations out of a maximum score of 7 points. They used cancer registry data to calculate the incidence of new cancers that developed over an average period of 8 years. They accounted for age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity, and smoking status in their analyses. The average recommendation adherence score was 3.8 points and 7,296 participants (8%) developed cancer during the study period.
The authors found that greater adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations was associated with a lower risk of all cancers combined, with each 1-point increase in recommendation adherence score associated with a 7% lower risk. Compared to those with an adherence scores of 3.5 points or less, those with a score of 4.5 points or above had a 16% lower risk of all cancers combined. They also found that each 1-point increase in adherence score was associated with a 10% lower risk of breast cancer, a 10% lower risk of colorectal cancer, an 18% lower risk of kidney cancer, a 16% lower risk of oesophageal cancer, a 22% lower risk of liver cancer, a 24% lower risk of ovarian cancer, and a 30% lower risk of gallbladder cancer.
The findings support compliance with the WCRF/AICR recommendations for cancer prevention in the UK, however the authors note that the observational nature of their study does not allow for conclusions about a causal relationship between WCRF/AICR recommendation adherence and cancer risk. The authors add that further research is needed to investigate which recommendations may be driving the observed association between recommendation adherence and cancer risk.
###
Article details
Adherence to the 2018 World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)/American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) Cancer Prevention Recommendations and risk of 14 lifestyle-related cancers in the UK Biobank prospective cohort study
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-023-03107-y
Corresponding Author:
John Mathers
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Email: john.mathers@newcastle.ac.uk
Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends): https://www.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-023-03107-y
END
Health: Greater adherence to lifestyle recommendations associated with lower cancer risk
2023-11-28
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Unlocking the genetic mysteries: DNA methylation of gene silencers sheds light on disease variation
2023-11-28
[Jerusalem, Israel]
Professor Asaf Hellman and his research team at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School have unveiled new findings in the realm of methylation-directed regulatory networks. Their study sheds light on the mechanisms governing the activation and suppression of mutation-driven disease genes, particularly in cases like glioblastoma, offering insights into variations in disease expression among patients. This research has the potential to revolutionize disease research and clinical applications, paving the way for personalized medicine, diagnostic biomarkers, and improved patient care. Currently, 98% of individuals hospitalized ...
Chapman University researcher, Dr. Rachita Sumbria, plays a key role in groundbreaking study on brain hemorrhages
2023-11-28
A groundbreaking study co-authored by Rachita Sumbria, associate professor in the Chapman University School of Pharmacy, has uncovered a new contributor to the formation of brain hemorrhages. Contrary to previous beliefs that such hemorrhages were solely linked to blood vessel injuries, the research reveals that increased interactions between aged red blood cells and brain capillaries can lead to brain microhemorrhages. This discovery not only enhances new understandings of the mechanisms behind these microhemorrhages but also opens up new possibilities ...
Aussie teens are not actually selfie-obsessed
2023-11-28
A new study zooming in on how smartphones influence our photography habits found Australians aged 20 to 40 years old take more selfies than teenagers and older Australians.
The research, from RMIT University and the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, studied over 1,200 smartphone photos taken during a two-week period by 30 participants and found older participants overall took more photos than teenage participants.
Research lead and RMIT Senior Lecturer Dr TJ Thomson said older participants often used their smartphone cameras in more functional ways, such as capturing information ...
Your co-worker is sick? Your body is already preparing for a fight
2023-11-28
It’s well-known that when those around us get sick, there’s a good chance we’ll catch what they have, but new research reveals that simply observing a sick individual triggers a biological response.
Patricia Lopes, an assistant professor of biology at Chapman University, is studying how the body anticipates the possibility of infection just by witnessing someone else's symptoms. This phenomenon raises questions about the interconnectedness of individuals within a social group and how the perception of sickness can influence the health and behavior of others.
Her recent work showed that when healthy ...
Culling grey squirrels not necessary for overall biodiversity, expert suggests
2023-11-28
Life on Earth is facing the greatest rate of extinction in history – and humans are the disruptive force, according to a leading ecologist.
Protecting biodiversity, according to consultant ecologist Nigel Dudley who has worked with international organizations including WWF International and UNESCO, does not mean prioritizing animal lives at all costs or focusing narrowly on nature’s economic values.
The author defines biodiversity rights here as ‘the right of all species to continue their natural span of existence within a functioning ecosystem’.
Dudley says the failure of some governments to respect biodiversity ...
No ‘smoking gun’ mental health harm from internet: landmark Oxford survey
2023-11-28
University of Oxford News Release
Oxford Internet Institute
Strict Embargo until 00.01 GMT Tuesday, 28 November 2023
No ‘smoking gun’ mental health harm from internet: landmark Oxford survey
Study of two million individuals’ psychological well-being from 2005 to 2022 in 168 countries, in relation to country-level internet-use and mobile broadband statistics
Negative and positive experiences had increased on average, but little to no evidence suggesting (mobile) internet use was associated with these changes
Links between internet adoption ...
Algorithm appreciation overcomes algorithm aversion
2023-11-28
Advertising content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is perceived as being of higher quality than content produced by human experts – according to a new research paper in Judgment and Decision Making, a journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and the European Association for Decision Making.
In the first study of its kind, the findings challenge the view that knowing a piece of content is generated with AI involvement lowers the perceived quality of content – known as algorithm aversion. ChatGPT4 outperforms human experts in generating advertising content for ...
The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University collaboration finds semaglutide treatment is associated with remarkable reductions in Alcohol Use Disorder symptoms
2023-11-28
The first published evidence from humans that semaglutide specifically reduces the symptoms of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) has been published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and details a recent collaboration between clinicians and scientists at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine and Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. The paper outlines the outcomes of six patients who received semaglutide during treatment for weight loss, demonstrating a significant and noteworthy decrease in their Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores.
The paper is titled "Significant ...
Survey finds patients’ coping styles changed during COVID-19 and that stable coping styles can reduce anxiety and depression
2023-11-27
Researchers assessed Veterans Affairs participants’ patterns of coping strategies, as well as the stability and change in strategies, at three timepoints (December 2020-March 2021) when COVID-19 vaccines became widely available. Two thousand and eighty-five participants completed surveys at any time point during the specified time frame and 930 participants completed all three surveys. Researchers identified three distinct coping styles: Adaptive, Distressed, and Disengaged. They then assessed stability and change ...
Knowledge translation materials can promote discussions between Asian men with diabetes and their physicians about erectile dysfunction
2023-11-27
Researchers studied communication about erectile dysfunction (ED) between doctors and 120 Asian male patients with diabetes in a primary care clinic in Kedah, Malaysia. At the outset of the study, all participating physicians received a brief introduction to the fundamentals of ED treatment. Prior to a regular consultation, 60 men (the intervention group) were given a simple prompt sheet on which they could indicate whether they wanted to discuss, or were already discussing, ED with their doctor; physicians in the intervention group were provided with a knowledge translation flipchart developed by the researchers to ...