Dr.Willett pioneered in the development of a dietary assessment tool which became later known as the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). In 1980 he started nearly 20 years of large FFQ epidemiological, cohort studies of diet on a total of cumulative 300 thousand men and women nationwide.These studies convincingly proved diet plays a major role in the outbreak and prevention of chronic ailments like cancer, cardiac diseases, and diabetes.The results helped clarify the relationship between specific diseases and various food ingredients like fat, alcohol, and dietary fiber.They also serve as a basis for the importance of vitamins and supplements such as folic acid and beta-carotene in healthy diet.

Before Dr. Willett developed FFQ, it was very difficult to relate diet with chronic diseases on a case-by-case basis although diet was thought to play some important role.As the rest of the world followed Dr. Willett in similar epidemiological studies, nutritional epidemiology experienced a fundamental change and drastic advancement.This is especially true in the field of elucidating the relationship between diet and cancer and cardiac diseases.

Honda Foundation believes these Dr. Willett’s achievements accord to the vision of our advocating Eco-Technology: a genuine technology in harmony with the entire environment surrounding human activities.As the 25th laureate of the Honda Prize, Dr. Willett was awarded an extra prize of 10 million yen.The award ceremony was held at Hotel Okura, Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, November 17, 2004.