The European Cancer Prevention Organization (ECP) was established in 1981 with the objective of developing studies of the aetiology and preven tion of cancer through concerted-action European collaborative studies. It achieves this through the organization of annual symposia, the organiz ation of workshops on subjects of topical interest and the organization of research projects. The annual symposia have all been on themes of high priority for cancer prevention; namely Tobacco and Cancer (1983), Hormones and Sexual Factors in Human Cancer Aetiology (1984), Diet and Human Carcinogen esis (1985), Concepts and Theories in Carcinogenesis (1986), Causation and Prevention of Colorectal Cancer (1987), Gastric Carcinogenesis (1988), Breast, Ovarian and Endometrial Cancer: Aetiological and Epi demiological Relationships (1989) and Causation and Prevention of Human Cancer (1990). At the time of the 1985 symposium a workshop was organized in conjunction with IUNS to formulate a set of dietary guidelines for the prevention of human cancer. Those guidelines were published inNutrition and Cancer, but since then there has been a massive increase in information on diet and cancer and so it was decided that in 1991 we would again have a symposium and an associated workshop on public education on diet and cancer. The symposium was structured into a number of sections, the first of which included a review of the various sets of published guidelines together with general background papers on dietary carcinogens, anticarcinogens (particularly the vitamins) and the value of animal models in studying diet and human cancer."

This book evaluates new data on diet and cancer and uses it to update the dietary guidelines produced by ECP and IUNS in 1985. It is the proceedings of the 9th Annual Symposium of the European Organization for Cooperation in Cancer Prevention Studies held in Madrid during October, 1991. The first section updates general background material (dietary carcinogens, animal studies etc.), the second concerns diet and cancer at specific sites and also specific nutrients in human cancer. The third section addresses problems with guidelines per se, and the fourth the Mediterranean diet in relation to cancer. These chapters, together with the general conclusions reached in a parallel workshop, represent a state-of-the-art review of the current status of diet and cancer and also provide the background to the conclusions that guidelines as formulated in 1985 can no longer be sustained and that they need to be replaced by guidelines that (a) concern food groups instead of nutrients and (b) are targetted at particular groups rather than the population in general.