The importance of creating social and physical environments that support healthy behaviors is central to the updated nutrition and physical activity guidelines for cancer prevention from the American Cancer Society (ACS). The report includes updated advice for personal diet and physical activity patterns, but it emphasizes that the community in which those choices are made can either facilitate or impede healthy behaviors.
The updated guidelines include recommendations for community action to accompany the 4 recommendations for individuals. The report states that a social and physical environment is crucial if individuals are to have the chance to choose and sustain healthy behaviors.
The ACS nutrition guidelines include 4 major individual recommendations:
- Achieve and maintain a healthy weight throughout life
- Adopt a physically active lifestyle
- Consume a healthy diet, with an emphasis on plant foods
- If you drink alcoholic beverages, limit consumption
The ACS nutrition guidelines include these recommendations for community action:
- Public, private, and community organizations should work collaboratively at national, state, and local levels to implement policy and environmental changes that:
- Increase access to affordable, healthy foods in communities, worksites, and schools, and decrease access to and marketing of foods and beverages of low nutritional value, particularly to youth
- Provide safe, enjoyable, and accessible environments for physical activity in schools and worksites, and for transportation and recreation in communities
“Our guidelines have always stressed what people can do themselves to lower their risk of cancer, and that’s important,” said coauthor of the report, Colleen Doyle, MS, RD, director of nutrition and physical activity. “But we must also take public action to make those behaviors easier for all Americans.
“The environments in which we live, work, learn and play have a tremendous impact on our ability to make and sustain healthy lifestyle choices. We’ve got to work together to ensure that worksites and schools have healthy food options; that our neighborhoods are designed so that our children can safely ride their bikes or walk to school; that people have the information they need to help them make healthier food choices, whether at the grocery store or when eating out.”
Source: American Cancer Society.