Process
CCEA AS-Level Nutrition and Food Science 3310
Protein
Fat
Carbohydrate
Vitamins
Minerals
Water and Other Fluids
Nutrition Through Life
Eating Patterns
Energy and Energy Balance
Overweight and Obesity
Cardiovascular Disease
Cancer
Type 2 Diabetes
Alcohol
Cancer
- 5 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- AS 2
What Cancer covers
Cancer is examined in Unit AS 2, Diet, Lifestyle and Health — examined, compulsory. It covers cancer and how tumours develop, fat, salt and meat in cancer risk, wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and antioxidants, lifestyle factors in cancer risk and recommendations to reduce cancer risk.
Where it is assessed
AS 2
Diet, Lifestyle and Health — a written examination.
Check the CCEA specification ↗The 5 subtopics
Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Nutrition and Food Science students sit this topic in the first year.
- Cancer and how tumours developCell division and mutation, carcinogens, the stages of cancer development, benign and malignant tumours, metastasis, age and inherited risk.Open →
- Fat, salt and meat in cancer riskFat and bowel cancer, salt and stomach cancer, IARC's classification of processed and red meat, cooking at high temperatures and UK meat advice.Open →
- Wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and antioxidantsHow fibre, wholegrains, fruit, vegetables, brassicas and folate may protect against cancer, free radicals and antioxidants, and the beta-carotene trials.Open →
- Lifestyle factors in cancer riskBody fat, physical activity, alcohol, breastfeeding, smoking, sun exposure and sunbeds as influences on cancer risk.Open →
- Recommendations to reduce cancer riskThe World Cancer Research Fund's 2018 recommendations on weight, diet, meat, sugary drinks, alcohol, sun safety, breastfeeding, smoking and activity, applied to cases.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Propose three sun safety measures to reduce skin cancer risk.
Key term
A 55-year-old man drinks 30 units a week, eats bacon daily and rarely exercises. Propose three changes and justify each.
Key term
How might a diet high in fat raise cancer risk indirectly?
Key term
What are wholegrain plant foods?
Numbers
How many cancers did the World Cancer Research Fund link to excess body fat in 2018?
Key term
Define cancer.
Key term
Why has a high-fat diet been linked to bowel cancer?
Numbers
How strong is the evidence that wholegrains protect against bowel cancer?
Key term
Explain how excess body fat can raise the risk of breast cancer after the menopause.
Key term
What normally controls how often a body cell divides?
Key term
How strong is the evidence that total fat intake directly causes breast cancer?
Key term
Explain how fibre may reduce the risk of bowel cancer.
Key term
Apart from raising oestrogen, how does excess body fat promote cancer growth?
Numbers
Which 2018 report is the main source of evidence-based recommendations for cancer prevention?
Take Cancer further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Benign tumour vs Malignant tumour
Benign tumour: an abnormal growth that stays in one place without invading nearby tissue. Malignant tumour: an abnormal growth that invades surrounding tissue and can spread around the body.
Initiation vs Promotion
Initiation: the first stage of cancer, when a carcinogen permanently damages a cell's DNA. Promotion: the stage of cancer in which damaged cells are stimulated to divide repeatedly.
Carcinogen vs Antioxidant
Carcinogen: an agent capable of causing the DNA damage that starts cancer. Antioxidant: a substance that neutralises free radicals before they harm cells.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define cancer.
Model answer
Cancer is a group of diseases in which cells divide uncontrollably and can invade nearby tissue. Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body.
- 2
What normally controls how often a body cell divides?
Model answer
Genes in each cell's DNA signal when to divide and when to stop. Damaged or unneeded cells are normally destroyed by programmed cell death, called apoptosis.
- 3
How can a mutation lead to cancer?
Model answer
A mutation is a permanent change in the base sequence of a cell's DNA. Mutations that build up in the genes controlling division can make a cell ignore the signals to stop.
- 4
What is a carcinogen? Give two examples linked to diet or lifestyle.
Model answer
A carcinogen is any agent that can damage DNA and lead to cancer. Examples include tobacco smoke and the N-nitroso compounds formed from processed meat.
- 5
Outline the three stages by which cancer develops.
Model answer
Initiation is the first stage, when a carcinogen causes a mutation. Promotion follows, as the damaged cell is stimulated to divide repeatedly. Progression is the final stage, when the growth becomes malignant and may spread.
- 6
Why can diet act at the promotion stage of cancer as well as at initiation?
Model answer
Some dietary factors damage DNA directly and so initiate cancer. Others, such as excess body fat, raise hormone and growth factor levels that push damaged cells to divide.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Cancer revision questions
- Is Cancer examined at AS in CCEA Nutrition and Food Science?
- Yes. It sits in AS 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Cancer cover in CCEA AS-Level Nutrition and Food Science?
- 5 subtopics: cancer and how tumours develop, fat, salt and meat in cancer risk, wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and antioxidants, lifestyle factors in cancer risk and recommendations to reduce cancer risk. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Cancer organised?
- By the CCEA 3310 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Cancer, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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