New Research Study Estimates Preventable Cancer Burden Linked to Poor Diet in the U.S.

NIMHD-Supported Research Study Estimates Preventable Cancer BurdenLinked to Poor Diet in the U.S.

The "Preventable Cancer Burden Associated with Poor Diet in the United States," published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), Cancer Spectrum, estimates that diet-related factors may account for 80,110 of the new invasive cancer cases reported in 2015 or 5.2 percent of that year’s total among U.S. adults. This is comparable to the cancer burden associated with alcohol, which is 4 to 6 percent. Excessive body weight, meanwhile, is associated with 7 to 8 percent of the cancer burden, and physical inactivity is associated with 2 to 3 percent.

“Our findings underscore the opportunity to reduce the cancer burden and disparities in the United States by improving food intake,” said first and corresponding author Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer and nutrition researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, also supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01MD011501) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL115189).
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