The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . However, cancer mortality rates are generally highest in the northern and eastern European countries and lowest in the Mediterranean countries.
Epidemiological studies provide most of the evidence on food and cancer.
Good dietary intervention studies of cancer risk however need to be large and very long term, and so are rare. 2.1 Role of body weight Obesity is a clear risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer and cancer of the prostate, endometrium and gall-bladder. It is also probably a risk factor for renal-cell carcinoma and cervical cancer. This is reinforced by the link between obesity and diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, gallstones, etc. As noted in previous Fact Sheets , the Mediterranean diet is suitable for the prevention of obesity, and therefore for the prevention of obesity-related cancer.