LONDON
(Reuter)- Cancer is preventable
and eating less meat and more fruits and vegetables could reduce cases of
the disease by as much as 40 per cent a year, medical experts said yesterday.
"Dietary
imbalance is a cause of cancer," Dr. Tony McMichael of the University
of London told a news conference to launch a major report by the World Cancer
Research Fund on nutrition and cancer.
"We are running the
human biological engine on the wrong type of food," he added.
People should change to
a more plant-based diet, and meat - if eaten at all- should be limited to
less than 85 grams or one portion a day, said the study, the most comprehensive
on diet and cancer ever undertaken.
"Meat, at most, should
be considered as a garnish ... not the central part of the diet," said
John Potter, director of the Cancer Prevention Research program in Seattle,
Wash.
He said the experts who
compiled the report were convinced by several studies that the link between
a meat-rich diet and the risk of bowel cancer was strong enough to justify
recommending limits on meat consumption.
The report supported the
findings of a British government study, also released yesterday, that suggested
people should eat less meat to avoid bowel cancer.
The Committee on Medical
Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy advised people who eat 85 grams or more
of meat a day to cut back their consumption.
★'Meat
at most should be considered as a garnish,'
cancer researcher says
Medical
experts have long suspected links between high intake of animal fat and meat
and development of cancer, but the authoritative research fund report is the
first to examine food and cancer prevention from a global perspective.
Potter, chairman of the
report panel, said the manner in which meat is prepared could also be a source
of risk.
The study suggested meat
should be well-cooked and not charred. Grilled, cured and smoked meats should
be eaten only occasionally.
Limiting alcohol consumption
to two drinks a day for men and one for women, reducing sugar and salts, and
doing daily exercise can also help to prevent cancer, it said.
"At least 20 per cent
of lung cancer, 33 per cent of breast cancers and 66 percent of colon cancers
are preventable by appropriate diets, together with the associated factors
of regular physical activity and maintenance of healthy body weight.
"Together with no smoking,
this means that 60-70 per cent of cancers are preventable," the report
said.
Every year as many as 10
million new cancer cases are diagnosed and 7 million people die from the disease.
Unless action is taken, experts estimate the number of new cases and deaths
will rise to 14 million by the year 2020.
"This is not an unimportant
case of morbidity and it is preventable," Potter said.
British medical experts
welcomed the report, saying it was a major step in improving people's diets.
Fifteen scientists from
nine countries worked on the report for three years. They assessed more than
4,000 studies on diet and cancer.
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