Besides being a good Scrabble word, quinoa (“keenwah”) is a really beneficial whole grain. Find out why in today’s Health-e-Recipe for Quinoa with Mushrooms and Squash. Sample the first crop of summer squash – zucchini and yellow “crookneck” – along with mushrooms in this recipe.

Mushrooms contain ergosterol, a compound that turns into vitamin D, plus the cancer-fighting mineral selenium. With AICR funding, researchers at the Beckman Research Institute’s City of Hope in Los Angeles found that white button and other kinds of mushrooms suppressed production of aromatase, a substance that fuels production of the hormone estrogen – linked to increased risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. So enjoy this all-around excellent recipe for cancer prevention. Receive Health-e-Recipes each week: click here.

Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, Prevention Policy Hide

A healthy quesadilla? You thought it couldn’t be done. But today’s Health-e-Recipe for Spinach and Corn Quesadillas does several things.

First, it demonstrates how to use just enough cheese to flavor and bind the ingredients – yet keep fat content moderate, unlike cheese-drenched restaurant dishes.

Second, it’s a light dish that satisfies your appetite and tastebuds without meat, which AICR advises limiting for lower cancer risk.

Third, it’s an excuse to use salsa, which is  healthy because of its phytochemical-containing ingredients: tomatoes (lycopene), peppers (capsaicin) and onions or garlic (diallyl sulfides).

That’s in addition to the spinach and corn phytochemicals. Check out AICR recipes for salsas to make with this recipe, and click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, Prevention Policy Hide

Great short piece on America Public Media’s Marketplace Morning Report on a story that hasn’t gotten the attention it should:  How the new healthcare legislation broadens our national approach to diseases like cancer by placing an unprecedented amount of focus on prevention. Take a listen.

Understand: More and better prevention efforts are sorely needed and long overdue.  But if there’s one thing our policy report made clear, it’s that government can’t do it alone.  All levels of society – industry, schools, health professionals, the media, individuals – helped get us to where we are now, and must play a role in the kind of sweeping societal changes needed to make it easier for everyone to make healthy, cancer protective choices.

How are our policy report’s 49 recommendations addressed in the new legislation?  What, exactly, remains to be done?  It’ll take some time to tease out those answers.

In the meantime, count on the American Institute for Cancer Research for practical everyday advice that’s based on research your generosity makes possible — research that reveals how you can help protect yourself from cancer.

Behavior Change, Cancer Prevention, Diet, exercise, Prevention Policy, Research, Weight Hide

Yesterday, at an event at the Headquarters of the Pan-American Health Organization (the regional office of the World Health Organization in the Americas), we launched the Spanish summary of our major report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention.

Launch of AICR/PAHO Spanish Summary, PAHO HQ

Press Questions at AICR/PAHO Summary Launch

The summary was published jointly by AICR and PAHO, and adapts the report’s global policy recommendation to Latin American countries.

The launch event here in DC was well-attended, and over 30 countries participated via web. A lively discussion followed (the Q and A session went on for over 30 minutes) including the comments of the Deputy Health Minister of Panama, who participated by phone.

AICR Vice President for Programs Deirdre McGinley-Gieser spoke briefly to fit the new summary into the wider context of AICR’s ongoing mission, and to express how excited we are to partner with PAHO, an organization that can help effect the kind of changes that could lower cancer rates in the Americas and save millions of lives.

You can read about the AICR/WCRF Policy Report here.

The Spanish summary is available on PAHO website.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Physical Activity, Prevention Policy, Weight Hide

February 4th is World Cancer Day - an annual global awareness-raising initiative organized by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) that shines a spotlight on the small, everyday changes that can lower cancer risk.

AICR welcomes World Cancer Day 2010 as an opportunity to share the vital, life-saving, evidence-based message that we are not powerless before this disease. The evidence is in, and its shows that steps can be taken, by anyone, at any age, to help protect against cancer.

AICR President Marilyn Gentry shares her thoughts on this important day.

Meanwhile, AICR is marking World Cancer Day by launching two translated summaries of our major policy report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention. This report translates the scientific evidence into clear recommendations that show how all levels of society – government, individuals, schools, workplaces, the media, and more – can work together to reduce cancer incidence around the globe.

Working with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), we’ve produced a Spanish summary of the policy report that tailors recommendations to Latin American countries and regions.

We’ve also partnered with the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA) to produce a Portuguese summary that speaks to the policy makers in Brazil and other countries where cancer rates are rising.

We’re launching both translations today, at events in Washington and Rio de Janeiro.  We’ll keep you posted.

Behavior Change, Cancer Prevention, Diet, exercise, Physical Activity, Prevention Policy, Research, Weight Hide

Dr. June Stevens is the American Institute for Cancer Research/World Cancer Research Fund Distinguished Professor at the AICR/WCRF Institute for the Advanced Study of Diet, Nutrition and Cancer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She oversees AICR’s Marilyn Gentry Fellowship Program, which seeks to develop tomorrow’s leaders in nutrition-cancer research.

Last week, she chaired a session at the 2009 AICR Research Conference called, “From Policy to Action in Cancer Prevention.” We caught up with her at lunch to ask her about the session, and about the research that’s revealing how best to translate the findings from laboratory studies and clinical trials into practical, actionable advice for the public.

Cancer Prevention, Cancer Survivorship, Diet, exercise, Prevention Policy, Weight Hide

Dietitian Alice Bender‘s job here at AICR is to take the research we fund and turn it into practical advice for the public.  Last week was the first time Alice attended an AICR Research Conference.  She attended sessions, blogged a bit, hosted one of the roundtable discussions which were created to help the health professionals who attended our conference network with one another, and anchored our press conference, where she released the results of AICR’s biennial survey on cancer risk factors.

Now that the conference is behind us and things are starting to settle down, we were eager to get her impressions.

Q: What was the most exciting part of the conference for you?

A: Finishing the press conference (laughs)– because once it was over I could really  focus on the research that was being presented.  Actually, there were many highlights – the first one was dinner with [AICR Nutrition Advisor] Karen Collins and Diana Dyer [a cancer survivor/RD and longtime friend of AICR; sales of Diana's book go towards an special endowment at AICR for research on cancer survivorship.]  It was an exhilarating conversation that stretched to four hours before we knew it — we talked about all kinds of things related to nutrition, organics, sustainability and AICR.

Q: This was your first AICR conference. How’d it compare to what you expected?

A: It was even better than thought it would be. I knew there were going to be many presentation on basic research, but I was surprised — pleasantly so — to see the talks including so much applied information.  It was a nice mix of the science and its real-world implications.

After the jump: Alice talks networking, messaging and new technologies. (more…)

AICR in the News, AICR Research Conference, Cancer Prevention, Cancer Survivorship, Diet, Prevention Policy, rehabilitation Hide

In a session devoted to policies that can effect the kind of systemic, real-world changes that can reduce cancer rates, Penn State researcher Barbara J. Rolls, PhD, presented a talk on changing the food environment.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Prevention Policy Hide