ABSTRACT
The diets typically consumed in industrialized countries are an important cause of a number of chronic diseases. The diseases most often identified as being causally related to inappropriate diets include tooth and dental diseases, constipation and some more serious gut disorders, adult-onset diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke, and coronary heart disease. In addition, reviews and assessments of scientific research show that what can loosely be described as ‘industrialized diets’ are also an important cause of a number of common cancers. Cancer is a common killer disease everywhere in the world. Estimates published by the World Health Organization in 1997 showed that throughout the world, every year, there are around 10 million new cases of cancer identified. The American Institute for Cancer Research, the original parent organization of World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), was founded in 1982. The panel responsible for the WCRF report was particularly concerned with what is a global phenomenon, known as the demographic-nutritional-epidemiological transitions.
