The Diet and Cancer Branch, NCI: current projects and future research directions

Diet, perhaps more than any other environmental factor, has a significant potential for reducing the incidence of cancer. It has been projected that as much as 35 percent of all human cancer can be prevented through effective dietary modification strategies. The comprehensive research program of the DCB significantly directs diet and cancer research toward the ultimate cancer prevention goal of modifying dietary habits of the general population for optimal health. The DCB is currently supporting projects along the entire continuum from laboratory research to human intervention trials: basic research projects in food composition, encompassing dietary fiber, vitamin A and carotenoids and development of INFOODS; physiologic studies establishing safe and effective levels of dietary fiber and carotenoids; modification of eating behavior; human intervention trials of low fat diets in prevention of breast cancer; and clinical nutrition research units.