Research on Nutrition and Cancer: The Importance of  Standardized Dietary Assessments

Diet is a multidimensional variable, with diversity and composition as two important factors. It has been shown in one study that consumption of foods from a limited number of food groups reduces diversity and results in increased risk of early mortality. Eating habits are influenced by many biological, social, psychological, and cultural factors. Much research on strategies to promote healthful eating patterns that may prevent or control some cancers has been conducted over the past two decades. It’s therefore essential that the APOCP promotes investigation of the role of diet-related and lifestyle factors in cancer, using a multidisciplinary approach that involves large populationbased prospective studies in which biological samples are collected and analyzed for biomarkers of diet, metabolic processes and genetic susceptibility. Several large cohort studies need to be initiated and coordinated for Asian Pacific countries in the future. Development of methods for adjusting for measurement error in estimates of exposure, for validating and calibrating intake and for standardizing dietary assessment is a high priority.