The 'gold standard' of research is the Randomized Double-Blind Cross-Over Placebo-Controlled Trial. This means that a substance is tested on people (or animals) who do not know if they are receiving the substance in question. It is all controlled by sealed, numbered doses, and at some point in the trial the participants are 'crossed over' from the substance being tested to the placebo, or vice versa. This method is fine if you are testing a drug, but if you are examining the merits of a vitamin or a food it has severe limitations.

Nutrition does not lend itself well to studies and trials and in years to come trials may need to be redesigned in order to obtain meaningful data from this whole area. To quote one researcher, 'The tools being applied are generally blunt instruments that are simple for the scientist to administer and analyse.' Furthermore, most experiments are not funded for more than a few months (at best), while the effect of nutrition, though it can sometimes be speedy, takes longer in most cases and depends on long-term lifestyle changes.

Researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer put it succinctly when they said, 'Understanding the multi-dimensional nature of diet and of its relationship with different cancers is a major scientific challenge.' To put it another way: with nutrition, the whole is greater than the parts.

There is now a significant body of research building up, with thousands of papers available examining the influences of nutrition on cancer. Evidence is accumulating that points firmly towards a useful therapy with no side-effects.

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Cancer