In September 2006 a Public Meeting was held at St. Andrews Hall in Norwich. This was intended to be an official launch for the latest phase of the EPIC study, the Third Health Check. Unfortunately, due to limited space, not all of the more than 30,000 EPIC participants could attend at this time, instead only a randomly selected sample were invited to apply for tickets. Three presentations were given throughout the day consisting of a series of short talks informing participants of the past, present and future aims of the EPIC project. This was followed by a brief question answer and session where participants were given the opportunity to question the EPIC research team.

The presentation began with Dr. Nick Wareham welcoming and thanking the participants for their commitment and contribution to the project. He continued with some background information on the 500,000 participant EPIC-Europe study and it's aims and goals of discovering links between nutrition and cancer. The focus was then switched to the specific aims of EPIC-Norfolk study, which are to improve health through a better understanding of the influences of lifestyle factors such as diet, physical activity, stress and smoking. A presentation about EPIC behind the scenes was given by Shabina Hayat to describe the personnel and teams running the study and all that goes into making it function.

Two of the principle investigators from EPIC presented results that have been found so far. Dr. Sheila Bingham reported back on major findings from analysis of the food diaries that have been so carefully completed by our participants, relating to specific cancers and certain food types. Sheila reported on the importance of consuming fiber and oily fish in the protection against colon cancer as well as the link found between red or processed meat and increased risk of colon cancer. The seven-day food diaries have also been used to discover a link between breast cancer and dietary intake of saturated fat.

The next speaker, Professor Kay-Tee Khaw reported on findings related to other chronic diseases using the data we have collected on lung function, pulse rate, bone health, blood glucose level and levels of inflammation. Kay-Tee reported how good lung function (which is related to good health and longer life) is associated with more physical activity, and decreasing lung function is directly associated with increasing inactivity. The same was shown from the bone health data collected so far, where more physical activity resulted in better bone health. Kay-Tee presented data that demonstrated how relatively small, and achievable changes such as adding one unit of fruit and vegetable and increasing activity, could have significant health benefits and raise life expectancy. She also reported how these results had been used by the Department of Health's Small Change, Big difference Campaign.

For more detailed information about these results see the Key Findings section of this website.

Kay-Tee also spoke about the current phase of the study, the Third Health Check, where we are following up on measures taken in the previous two health check to look at changes over the years, and also broadening the project further to look at factors affecting us as we age such as visual health.

It was highlighted that this important information could never have been gathered without the selfless contributions and committment of the thousands of EPIC participants. With their help this work can continue to discover more valuable information about healthy diet and lifestyle.

What Next for EPIC?

New to the Third Health Check is a thorough check of eye health. Dr. Paul Foster is a consultant ophthalmologist from the Institute of Opthalmology in London who has been heavily involved with the project in the current phase. Blindness and significantly reduced vision are major health issues in the older population. With life expectancy increasing, this problem will increase even further, affecting more and more people. The two leading causes of blindness in the UK are glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Using a very sophisticated collection of eye equipment, including laser scanning machines and retinal photography, researchers hope to find new links between diet and eye health as we age. For more detailed information see the Eyes Examinations page of this website.