Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?

doi:10.1136/bmj.m511

. 2020 Mar 5:368:m511.

doi: 10.1136/bmj.m511.

Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?

Timothy J Key¹, Kathryn E Bradbury², Aurora Perez-Cornago³, Rashmi Sinha⁴, Konstantinos K Tsilidis^{5

6}, Shoichiro Tsugane⁷

Affiliations

¹ Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK tim.key@ndph.ox.ac.uk.
² National Institute for Health Innovation, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
³ Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴ Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁷ Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan.

PMID: 32139373
PMCID: PMC7190379
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m511

Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?

Timothy J Key et al. BMJ. 2020.

. 2020 Mar 5:368:m511.

doi: 10.1136/bmj.m511.

Authors

Timothy J Key¹, Kathryn E Bradbury², Aurora Perez-Cornago³, Rashmi Sinha⁴, Konstantinos K Tsilidis^{5

6}, Shoichiro Tsugane⁷

Affiliations

¹ Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK tim.key@ndph.ox.ac.uk.
² National Institute for Health Innovation, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
³ Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴ Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁷ Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan.

PMID: 32139373
PMCID: PMC7190379
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m511

Erratum in

Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?
[No authors listed] [No authors listed] BMJ. 2020 Mar 11;368:m996. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m996. BMJ. 2020. PMID: 32160994 No abstract available.

Abstract

Timothy J Key and colleagues describe the evidence linking diet and nutrition to cancer risk, concluding that obesity and alcohol are the most important factors

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare.

Figures

**Fig 1**
Body mass index (BMI), alcohol, and cancer risk. Convincing associations according to the World Cancer Research Fund or the International Agency for Research on Cancer (marked by asterisks), or both, with relative risks from meta-analyses. We also consider the association between BMI and risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women to be convincing. RR, relative risk (plotted with squares proportional to amount of statistical information); CI, confidence interval

**Fig 2**
Percentages of cancer cases in the UK attributable to different exposures.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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1. Shimizu H, Mack TM, Ross RK, Henderson BE. Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract among Japanese and white immigrants in Los Angeles County. J Natl Cancer Inst 1987;78:223-8. - PubMed
1. Armstrong B, Doll R. Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries, with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer 1975;15:617-31. 10.1002/ijc.2910150411 - DOI - PubMed
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1. McCay CM, Pope F, Lunsford W. Experimental prolongation of the life span. Bull N Y Acad Med 1956;32:91-101. - PMC - PubMed

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[1] Haenszel W, Kurihara M. Studies of Japanese migrants. I. Mortality from cancer and other diseases among Japanese in the United States. J Natl Cancer Inst 1968;40:43-68. - PubMed

[2] Haenszel W, Kurihara M. Studies of Japanese migrants. I. Mortality from cancer and other diseases among Japanese in the United States. J Natl Cancer Inst 1968;40:43-68. - PubMed

[3] Shimizu H, Mack TM, Ross RK, Henderson BE. Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract among Japanese and white immigrants in Los Angeles County. J Natl Cancer Inst 1987;78:223-8. - PubMed

[4] Shimizu H, Mack TM, Ross RK, Henderson BE. Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract among Japanese and white immigrants in Los Angeles County. J Natl Cancer Inst 1987;78:223-8. - PubMed

[5] Armstrong B, Doll R. Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries, with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer 1975;15:617-31. 10.1002/ijc.2910150411 - DOI - PubMed

[6] Armstrong B, Doll R. Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries, with special reference to dietary practices. Int J Cancer 1975;15:617-31. 10.1002/ijc.2910150411 - DOI - PubMed

[7] Moreschi C. Beziehungen zwischen Ernährung und Tumorwachstum. Ztschr f Immunitätsforsch. 1909;2:651.

[8] Moreschi C. Beziehungen zwischen Ernährung und Tumorwachstum. Ztschr f Immunitätsforsch. 1909;2:651.

[9] McCay CM, Pope F, Lunsford W. Experimental prolongation of the life span. Bull N Y Acad Med 1956;32:91-101. - PMC - PubMed

[10] McCay CM, Pope F, Lunsford W. Experimental prolongation of the life span. Bull N Y Acad Med 1956;32:91-101. - PMC - PubMed

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Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?

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Diet, nutrition, and cancer risk: what do we know and what is the way forward?

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