Nutrition North is a coalition of nutrition academics, clinicians and practitioners from more than 15 leading universities, NHS Trusts and independent nutrition organisations across the North of England.  Their collective expertise includes food and nutrition science, public health and the food industry, gastroenterology, microbiome and food systems research, diet -related disease, dietary habit and obesity.  

In July 2025, Nutrition North produced the report “Food, Health and Nutrition in the North of England: Inequalities and opportunities” and contributed expertise to the Child of the North APPG report “Hungry for Change: Tackling Obesity and Food Insecurity in the North of England”.  In August 2025, Nutrition North were also invited to submit evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry on Food and Weight Management. 

Nutrition North is committed to working to highlight and address the region’s nutritional and health challenges and support economic development.  

Nutrition North welcomes the National Cancer Plan and appreciates that, more than any previous cancer strategy, this plan recognises: 

• Obesity as a major risk factor for cancer. 

• Socioeconomic inequalities, including healthcare access, as drivers for poor cancer outcomes as well as for obesity. 

• Unhealthy diet and excessive alcohol consumption as preventable risk factors for cancers. 

• The need to work with food retailers and policymakers to create healthier food environments. 

• That nutritious food is extremely important to both health and recovery from cancer. 

• The need to improve hospital food. 

• The need to live well and return to the working environment beyond cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

From a nutrition perspective, the plan represents a clear step in the right direction particularly with its acknowledgement of inequalities, prevention, community-based treatment, and patient-centred care. 

Nutrition North would recommend including nutrition even further by ensuring that: 

• Prevention is key, and to improve health, there needs to be a focus on the environments (both physical and digital) where people make their food choices. 

• The required data to drive health improvement includes not just data on cancer and health outcomes but also more granular data on health behaviours (such as diet and alcohol consumption). 

• Work with food retailers includes mandatory regulations to improve food environments and that these are targeted more towards deprived communities.  Poor diet is not a lifestyle choice; it is a consequence of poverty because of the lack of choice. 

• Creating healthy food environments requires broader systems thinking and joined up approaches, including health in all policies (such as planning, to shape healthier spaces for our populations). 

• Hospital food is improved not just for children and young people, but for all patients. 

• Nutrition and diet form part of the multi-disciplinary patient-centred care. 

• Care for cancer patients undergoing treatment includes nutritional assessment and support. 

Nutrition North recognises the benefits of GLP-1 medicines in the short term when rapid weight loss is required for valid health reasons (for example, to help manage diabetes, when there is risk of cardiovascular disease, or when surgery or treatment cannot proceed due to excess weight).  

The suggested reliance on GLP-1 medicines as a long-term prevention treatment for obesity and cancer, however, is of concern and we recommend that this requires further thought and research: 

• There is not clear evidence that GLP-1 treatments will reduce onward risk of cancer.  

• Some researchers have concerns that the risk of certain cancers may increase with GLP-1.  

• The remission rate to an obese state is high when GLP-1 treatment is discontinued. 

• GLP-1 treatment can result in sarcopenia (loss of muscle) which can make patients less resilient to cancer therapies. 

GLP-1 agonists hold great promise but should be included with more wrap-around nutritional and psychological support and cannot be viewed as the pharmaceutical answer to obesity nor as a mainstay of cancer prevention. 

In conclusion, Nutrition North believes that the government’s National Cancer Plan acknowledges for the first time, the important role of diet, obesity, inequalities, prevention and a more holistic approach to cancer treatment and survival.  We would welcome further inclusion of nutrition in cancer care and treatment packages, increased regulation on alcohol, mandatory regulations to improve the food environment for deprived communities, and more granular data on the consumption of dietary risk factors for obesity and cancer. 

We appreciate the value of GLP-1 medicines in many situations but, with the current level of evidence and understanding, we do not recommend relying on them as part of a long-term cancer prevention plan.  

On behalf of Nutrition North: 

• Professor Bernard Corfe, Human Nutrition and Exercise Research Centre, Newcastle University. 

• Professor Elizabeth Williams, Centre for Sustainable Food, The University of Sheffield.  

• Dr Iain Brownlee, School of Geography and Natural Science, Northumbria University Newcastle. 

• Professor Amelia Lake, Teesside University and Fuse, The Centre for Translational Research in Public Health. 

• Professor John McLaughlin, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester. 

• Dr Sarah Hill, Northern Health Science Alliance.