American Institute for Cancer Research

Funding innovative cancer research and education to expand understanding of nutrition and cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship. CFC contributions used 100% for research and health education. Call us at 800-843-8114.

Why do we exist?

The American Institute for Cancer Research fosters cutting-edge research on diet, nutrition and cancer, and educates the public about the results.  Through this dual mission of research and education, the Institute has helped usher in a new era of hope in the fight against cancer.

There is, however, so much more to be learned about the choices we make in regard to food and exercise and their effect on cancer. Currently, the Institute is funding research on how individual chemical compounds found in foods help our bodies prevent malignancies and what combinations of them are most effective in reducing cancer risk, or enhancing cancer treatment.

We are fostering research in new areas as well.  How do nutrients in plants influence the activity of our genes? Can diet be designed to interact with an individual set of genes? And what about the growing population of cancer survivors?  Can diet, physical activity and weight management help prevent secondary and recurrent cancers?

But generating new knowledge in the lab is only the first half of our mission.  Our education programs serve as a crucial link between what researchers discover and the actions we can take each day to prevent cancer.  These comprehensive and far-reaching educational programs strive to motivate people to take charge of their diets and their long-term health.  With your continued support, the Institute will bring its message of hope to millions more this year.

What have you accomplished?

In 1982, when AICR began operations, only about 2 percent of the budget for the government’s National Cancer Institute was designated for research in diet, nutrition and cancer, despite mounting evidence that there was great potential for preventing cancer and cancer deaths.  AICR stepped in to fill that gap.

Since then, AICR has fostered millions of dollars of ground-breaking research at leading universities, hospitals and research centers around the world.  Thousands of AICR-funded papers on diet and cancer risk have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and have helped provide a broad base of information from which to build public education programs.

The Institute also plays an important role in interpreting the growing body of world literature on diet, physical activity and cancer.  In 1997, AICR in collaboration with its international affiliate, the World Cancer Research Fund, reviewed all existing research on this topic and issued an influential report with fourteen recommendations for reducing cancer risk.  In 2007, the second expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective, will appear.  The report has reviewed all the available science relating to cancer prevention, and will act as the most authoritative global report ever to be published on the subject of food, nutrition, physical activity and the prevention of cancer. It will form the basis of the agenda for science for years to come.

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