Determinants of weight gain, overweight, obesity

The proposals that cancer might be preventable, and that food, nutrition, physical activity and body composition might affect the risk of cancer, were first made before science emerged in its modern form in the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout recorded history, wise choices of food and drink, and of habitual behaviour, have been recommended to protect against cancer, as well as other diseases, and to improve well-being. Reports such as this, which incorporate systemtic examination of all relevant types of research, differ from ancient, historical, and even relatively recent accounts, and descriptive studies of the type detailed in Chapter 1, not only in the quantity and quality of evidence, but also in the reliability of the judgements and recommendations that derive from it.