REPORT OF THE COUNCIL ON SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS - DIET AND CANCER - WHERE DO MATTERS STAND

During the past decade, the scientific literature base on the putative but elusive relationship between diet and cancer expanded enormously. Increased emphasis by funding agencies, fueled in turn by broadening public interest in the topic, led to this growth. The laboratory and epidemiologic research conducted in the past decade to determine the role of nutritional factors in the cause of cancer has shown that a simple solution does not exist. The key to the diet/cancer puzzle may lie in nutrient interactions and in individual response to dietary factors, determined in turn by genetic, physiologic, and life-style factors. Given the rapid strides being made in furthering the understanding of the biochemistry and molecular biology of cancer, it may be possible to look forward to the day when optimal dietary and life-style guidelines can be tailored on a specific individualized basis.