Throughout the past decades, considerable progress has been made in the (early) diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. However, the prognosis for advanced stages of gastrointestinal tumors remains limited for many patients and approximately one third of all tumor patients die as a result of gastrointestinal tumors. The prevention and early detection of gastrointestinal tumors is therefore of great importance. For this reason, we summarize the current state of knowledge and recommendations for the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of esophageal, stomach, pancreas, liver and colorectal cancer in the following.