Abstract PL02-03: Diet, nutrition, and cancer: Past, present, and future

Abstract

For many years, Dr. John Milner was a champion for research on diet, nutrition and cancer. As part of his memorial symposium, this presentation will review the state of science on this topic, including a consideration of where the field has been, where it is today, and opportunities for future progress. The 1980s focused research on this topic, with the publication of several landmark reports, including the 1982 publication on “Diet, Nutrition and Cancer” by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which was followed by a Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health in 1988 and several other landmark publications. The conclusions of these reports reflected a cautious optimism that diet might provide a strategy for cancer prevention, at least for selected cancers, and noted new directions for research to propel the field forward. Nearly a decade later (in 1997), another landmark report on nutrition and cancer was released, the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research report on “Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective,” which was updated in 2007 and continuously thereafter. The decades of research described in these reports demonstrate a substantial evolution in the scientific evidence base linking diet, nutrition and cancer prevention. As will be discussed, advances in dietary assessment and analysis, interpretation of dietary/nutrient data in relation to cancer risk, recognition of tumor heterogeneity, and consideration of hierarchy of research evidence have provided greater clarity to early findings in the field. Similarly, a new wave of technological advances, largely based in genetics/genomics, is now enabling exciting new lines of investigation into diet, nutrition and cancer. Dr. Milner was a passionate advocate for the incorporation of genetic and genomic technologies into nutrition research, and emphasized the value of mechanistically-based research for a more comprehensive understanding of the role of nutrition in carcinogenesis. The impact of his vision and leadership on emerging topics in diet, nutrition and cancer is evident as will be presented.

Citation Format: Susan T. Mayne. Diet, nutrition, and cancer: Past, present, and future. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr PL02-03.