03/02/12 - Number of UK cancer cases up 30% by 2030
01/02/12 - World Cancer Research Fund welcomes new chairman
25/01/12 - World Cancer Research Fund supports World Cancer Day
WCRF UK's past, present and future
- WCRF UK's history
- Our published Expert Reports
- Policy work
- Present and future science and research plans
WCRF UK’s history
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF UK) was founded in London in 1990 and was the second charity to become part of our WCRF global network.
When WCRF UK was first set up, the idea that diet could influence cancer risk was considered controversial, since scientific research into the diet and cancer link was very much in its infancy. Today, thanks to an increasing body of scientific evidence that has developed over the years, all mainstream scientists now accept that what we eat and how physically active we are affects our risk of cancer.
WCRF UK, along with the WCRF global network, has raised millions of pounds for cancer prevention research and education programmes. Together, we have funded more than £64 million of cutting-edge research projects around the world that have helped to further our understanding that cancer is a largely preventable disease. Experts estimate that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented.
As a result, WCRF UK has grown into the principal UK charity focused on cancer prevention and plays a key role in fulfilling WCRF International’s strategic objectives for the WCRF global network.
Read a message from Marilyn Gentry, Chief Executive of WCRF UK and President of the WCRF global network.
Our published Expert Reports
As part of the WCRF global network, WCRF UK has played a key role in the publication of important scientific reports on cancer prevention.
In 1997, the WCRF global network published our first landmark Expert Report, Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective (WCRF/AICR, 1997), on how cancer risk is affected by the choices we make each day. This Report confirmed beyond doubt that our lifestyle choices have a big impact on cancer risk and was a catalyst for change that inspired further scientific research in this field.
Over the next few years, more and more research was carried out into the link between lifestyle choices and cancer risk. By 2002, it was clear that there was so much new evidence that a new Report was needed, so the WCRF global network set itself the challenge of producing a second Report. WCRF International instigated and co-ordinated the six-year process of compiling the scientific data to publish Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective (WCRF/AICR, 2007) and our Second Expert Report was launched in November 2007.
Our Second Expert Report is the most comprehensive book ever published on the links between food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer prevention and is based on the in-depth analysis of over 7,000 scientific studies published on cancer prevention over the last 50 years. A panell of 21 world-renowned scientists reviewed the research evidence and drew conclusions that led to our current Recommendations for Cancer Prevention.
Policy work
In addition to our two Expert Reports, in February 2009, the WCRF global network published Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention (WCRF/AICR, 2009), a companion publication to the Second Expert Report that addresses why people practice particular eating and physical activity habits over a lifetime. Our Policy Report provides advice and guidance for key groups, such as governments and workplaces, on what can be done to influence and change the lifestyle choices that people make, as they relate to their risk of cancer.
Our Policy Report has been endorsed by many people and organisations with an interest in cancer prevention and public health, including Professor Mike Richards, National Clinical Director for Cancer and Dr Francesco Branco, Head of Nutrition at the World Health Organization. Read the Policy Report endorsements.
The next step for WCRF UK, and the rest of the WCRF global network, is to look at how we can work with other organisations to make the policy recommendations become a reality. Through our education programmes we will also be working to raise awareness of the key issues.
Present and future science and research plans
Following the launch of the WCRF global network’s Second Expert Report, we have been collating the findings from all new cancer prevention studies carried out throughout the world. Using the same rigorous methodology of our Second Expert Report, our Continuous Update Project analyses the findings of new cancer prevention research that has been published since our 2007 Report was published. Future results of this pioneering research project will be used to ensure that our Recommendations for Cancer Prevention remain based on the most up-to-date evidence available.
We have a long-term commitment to our Continuous Update Project. Updating our database is time-sensitive, given all the new studies that are published annually, and will be ongoing to provide a single resource that can be used by scientists worldwide in the future.
Work on the Continuous Update Project began in 2006. It will take around five years to fully input the results of diet and lifestyle-related cancer prevention studies that have been published since the launch of our Second Expert Report, from which point onwards it will be relatively easy to keep it updated with the addition of new scientific data. We have already completed updating it with breast cancer and bowel cancer results and are now inputting prostate cancer data.
In addition to the Continuous Update Project, WCRF International and the WCRF global network have a comprehensive science and research programme that includes our Research Grants, a Fellowship Scheme and a WCRF Academy.
We have an ongoing commitment to funding and developing the most reliable evidence-based research recommendations and their translations into messages that form the basis for action by health professionals, communities, families and individuals. Read more about how WCRF UK makes a difference.
