Strengthening the evidence base for nutrition and cancer in low and middle income countries

Population surveys, etiologic and intervention studies, as well as implementation research are all important in developing the evidence base to tackle the rise in cancers associated with changing dietary, and physical activity patterns and food production and availability. In order to facilitate the translation of such methodologies to population studies, priority should be given to the development of standardized technology for appropriate collection and long–term storage of biological samples, particularly blood and DNA, tumor specimens, associated normal tissue, urine and hair. Together with the implementation of major public health control programs (eg, tobacco control, limited consumption of sugary drinks, regulation of pesticides use), a high priority is to build capacity in LMICs to undertake high quality research and to provide high quality information to support government policy and action plans. A critical step is to have a better understanding of what is already in place, and where the gaps and opportunities are to begin to move forward. 1 Nutrition and Metabolism Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France 2 Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK 3 Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico 4 Food, Nutrition and Cancer Division, National Cancer Institute of Brazil (INCA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK 6 Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 7 Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands 8 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany 9 Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA 10 Centre of Excellence for Nutrition (CEN), Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 11 Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA 12 Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand 13 World Cancer Research Fund International, London, UK