As we look to understand future forces that will affect cancer risk, poor dietary patterns, overweight and obesity are significant concerns. In the past two decades these factors have shifted from issues that face higher-income countries to a global pandemic, and are rapidly becoming less a problem of affluence and more a problem of poverty. Rapid shifts in food systems, food pricing and marketing are the causes that underlie this trend. It is imperative to understand these factors and implement global interventions to slow this pandemic. The alternative is an acceleration of the incidence of the main nutrition-related cancers, primarily in developing countries.