The Continuous Update Project

‘‘We pledge to build on the foundation of our Second Expert Report by continuously monitoring and analysing emerging research in cancer prevention.’’
- Dr Kathryn Allen, Director - Science and Communications, WCRF International

Background to the project
In November 2007 the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) launched its Second Expert Report ‘Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective’.

This unique project funded by WCRF UK, together with other members of the WCRF global network, brought together and evaluated all the relevant research in the area of cancer prevention through food, nutrition and physical activity published over the past 60 years, and is the most authoritative source of information in this area. It demonstrated clearly that the choices we make in relation to diet and physical activity have a significant effect on our risk of developing cancer.

Due to the growth in research into cancer prevention it was realised that a static report could never truly remain up-to-date and would make any future reports far more complex and costly to produce.

The Continuous Update Project was established to maintain a central database of the accumulated evidence related to food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer. It is based on a live system of scientific data that is updated on an ongoing basis with any new research on cancer prevention published worldwide. This allows us to continuously monitor the research on cancer prevention and regularly review our messages. The database is one of, if not the, largest resource of existing scientific literature on food nutrition, physical activity and cancer in the world.

Reviewing the evidence
Once the database is fully up-to-date for all the cancer types, the panel will evaluate whether the Recommendations produced by WCRF/AICR in our Second Expert Report need to be revised to take into account any significant new evidence. This vital process will ensure that our cancer prevention messages are always based on the latest scientific research. They will also allow us to continue giving people the best possible information available so they can make choices that will reduce their risk of developing cancer.

Summary of progress to date
The team have started the process of updating the database with articles published since 2006, as the WCRF/AICR Second Expert Report was only able to include publications up to end 2005. This is being done on a rolling programme basis, adding cancer types one at a time.

The first cancer type to be added was breast cancer, which is now up-to-date, as are prostate and bowel cancers. Work is continuing to keep these cancer types up-to-date and at the same time, work is due to start on updating the literature on pancreatic cancer and breast cancer survivors. Breast, bowel and prostate are three of the most common cancers in the UK with nearly a third of cancers diagnosed in women being breast cancer and about a quarter of cancers diagnosed in men being prostate cancer.

Future plans & 5-year strategy
Once the central database has been fully updated with all cancer types, it will be made available to the wider scientific community. This will allow the vital information it holds regarding the prevention of cancer by food, nutrition and physical activity to be accessed anywhere in the world. Not only will this help spread our cancer prevention messages to a larger audience but it will help researchers determine which areas of cancer prevention require further investigation.

This, and the fact that much more research is being carried out in the area of cancer prevention, means that in future even more published studies will need to be analysed and entered into the central database.

Currently there are five members in the WCRF-funded Imperial College team, but with the predicted increase in research, additional staff will need to be recruited in order to update the database over the next five years with all the new research published since 2006.

Costs
In order to update the database over the next five years for all the cancer types included in the Second Expert Report, a campaign to raise a total of £1.8 million has been set to sustain this project and ensure that this vital work progresses. The project costings includes salaries, which make up the majority of the costs due to the considerable amount of labour intensive work required to analyse and process the individual research papers as they are published.

For instance, to search for and identify a relevant paper, and enter the required information into the database takes around half a day’s work, costing £86 per paper or around £500 for every six papers entered. Analysis work undertaken on a particular topic, for example on the link between bowel cancer and red meat takes approximately one week of work, costing around £200 per day and £1,000 to complete.

If you have any questions or would like to receive more information about supporting this project, please do not hesitate to contact our Major Gifts Fundraiser.

Thank you.