Diet and cancer: review of the literature (original) (raw)
Related papers
Carcinogens and cancer preventors in diet
International Journal of Nutrition, Pharmacology, Neurological Diseases, 2014
Cancer is a major burden on the health-care system world-wide not only in the developed countries, but also in the developing countries. Several lines of evidence indicate that diet and nutrition can contribute to human cancer risk. Diet is an important factor in determining cancer incidence in many countries and regions. Diet components relevant to cancer development can be divided into macro-and micro-components. Diet can have both positive and negative effects on carcinogenesis. Several substances in diet such as heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, N-nitroso compounds and alcohols have been associated with increased risk of cancer, whereas certain compounds such as phytochemicals and probiotics have cancer preventing properties. This paper aims to review the carcinogenic and cancer preventive properties of dietary substances and their possible mechanisms of action.
Carcinogenicity testing of complete human diets in rats
Cancer Letters, 1997
So far, in most animal experimental studies isolated food components have been tested. However, as components may interact with each other at different mechanistic levels, testing complex food mixtures more representative for human consumption patterns may better predict the ultimate carcinogenic risk. Studies were performed in Wistar rats using human and rat control diets to assess the effect of relevant food factors such as heat processing and the presence of nonnutrients in vegetables and fruit. The complete human diets, containing meat, bread and eggs, with or without vegetables and fruit, were composed according to mean consumption figures, balanced for macro-and micronutrients. Experiments were performed with spontaneous as well as with chemical-induced tumor models. Heat processing had no effect on tumor induction, while vegetables and fruit only exerted a protective effect on chemically induced tumors in rats fed low-fat animal diets. Data suggest interaction between major food factors in the human diet on colon carcinogenesis.
Acta bio-medica: Atenei Parmensis
CARCINOGENESIS AND METHODOLOGY The significance of diet for carcinogenesis* is a complex problem, since neoplastic diseases are known to have a multifactorial aetiology. Carcinogenesis embraces several mutually de-pendent steps, each with a different latency period, and ...
A Comprehensive Review of Dietary Factors Involved in Aetiology and Prevention of Cancer
https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR\_Vol.9\_Issue.11\_Nov2022/IJRR-Abstract62.html, 2022
Cancer has emerged as far more common disease than what it was once considered. An alarming increase in the incidence of cancer in recent years is a cause of major concern. Sedentary lifestyle, consumption of processed foods, alcohol, increasingly stressful life and smoking is considered to be contributory factors. Diet among all these factors has close association with the health of an individual. Increasing evidences have associated certain food ingredients and their addictions as risk factors for development of cancer. Similarly, millions of investigations have pointed out the role of specific nutrient in the diet in blocking specific cancer cell growth pathways. Present paper reviews the influence of dietary factors in the aetiology of cancer. It discusses the role of intermediate metabolites released in triggering transformation of cells. The paper further elaborates on the potential of various dietary components in prevention of cancer, improving effectivity of chemotherapy treatment and lowering the risk of long-term complications in cancer patients. This knowledge is important in making decisions regarding both individual’s dietary choices and shaping health promoting policies.
Diet-related cancer and prevention using anticarcinogens
Compelling evidences indicate that dietary factors can contribute to human cancer risk and as such many of the cancers common in the third world countries and the western world, including liver, colon, prostate and breast cancers have been related to dietary behaviors. Dietary carcinogens identified to date include the mycotoxins, heterocyclic amines formed from heat treatment of meat, N-nitroso compounds and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. It has been recognized that diet-related cancers occur through an imbalance of carcinogenesis and anticarcinogenesis. Dietary anticarcinogens may therefore provide a means of retarding, suppressing or reversing the multi-stage carcinogenesis. An avalanche of dietary and plant-derived compounds has been reported to possess anticarcinogenic activities. Most of these agents possess intrinsic antioxidant, radical trapping and anti-inflammatory properties, which appear to contribute to their chemo preventive properties. Resveratrol, a phytoalexin, present in grapes, berries and peanuts and Curcumin the natural yellow pigment in turmeric isolated from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa elicit striking inhibitory effects on diverse cellular events associated with the process of carcinogenesis. Lycopene, a carotenoid present in tomatoes is a powerful quencher of singlet oxygen. Epidemiological evidence strongly suggests that lycopene consumption and tomato products contribute to prostate cancer risk reduction. Kolaviron, a natural biflavonoid antioxidant obtained from the seeds of Garcinia kola has been extensively investigated for it hepatoprotective, radical scavenging and antigenotoxic properties in vitro and in vivo. Each of these anticarcinogens alone or in combination could provide a sustainable chemopreventive intervention that might be useful in retarding the progress of cancer in different populations of the world.
Food components and diet habits: chief factors of cancer development
Review, 2019
Food is a vital need for everyone. Today, there is food for all, but the world still suffers from under-and over-nutrition and risk of cancer development and chronic diseases can follow both cases. Worldwide, cancer is a leading cause of mortality after cardiovascular disease; it is considered the second reason for death globally. Role of nutritional habits, the quality of food, the consumption of canned foods, genetically modified fruits and vegetables and exposed food to certain pesticides and carcinogens agents, and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, alcohol, obesity, and fast-foods consumption may be at risk to the development of some cancers. In recent decades, researchers have carried out attention in this field to improve the quality of life and to limit nutrition problems. Thus, this study aims to summarize current evidence on the relationship between nutritional factors and cancer expansion, how nutrition can be a heal and a source of fatal illness leading to death. In detail, this review will highlight the influence of specific foodstuffs on the threat of cancer incidence and recurrence by providing some examples of most carcinogenic compounds.
Major Types of Cancers Linked to Diet / Dietary Factors
2018
Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that a proper diet and a healthy life style can decrease the risk of cancer by up to 70%. The cancers most closely related to nutrition are breast and endometrial cancers in women and prostate and gastrointestinal cancers in men. The review outlines that many anti-oxidants, vitamins, phytochemicals, and other micronutrients in food have cancer preventing effects, while many food additives, pesticide residues and high consumption of charbroiled meat, nitrites, salt, animal fat and trans fatty acids have been associated with increased cancer risk. Most studies with micronutrients in relation to cancer have been conducted with individual compounds. In contrast, our in vitro and in vivo research utilizing over 50 human cancer cell lines demonstrated better anti-cancer efficacy with a synergistic combination of micronutrients rather than individual compounds. Pleiotropic effects of a nutrient combination have been demonstrated in cancer pr...
Role of nutritional factors in pathogenesis of cancer
Food Quality and Safety
Diet and nutrition are crucial factors throughout the complete life course in the promotion and upholding of good health. It has always been accepted that our defencelessness to infection and disease was influenced by diet and environmental as well as genetic factors. Nutrition is coming to the front position as a principle modifiable determinant of chronic disease, with scientific confirmation with time more supporting the view that alterations in diet have strong effects, equally positive as well as negative, on health throughout life. For the most part notably, nutritional adjustments may not only influence present health but also determine whether or not an individual will develop chronic non-communicable diseases like cancer. Diet is a blend of protective, mutagenic, and carcinogenic agents; the majority of them are metabolized by the enzymes of biotransformation process. Genetic polymorphisms that alter protein expression or else the function of these enzymes can change the risk of developing cancer. The scientific community has identified numerous naturally occurring materials in plant food with the power to resolve possible carcinogens. A few of these nutrients and natural phytochemicals look for toxins and usher them from the body before they can cause cell damage that may lead to cancer. Others give the impression to make it easier for the body to make repairs at the cellular level. At a standstill, others may help bring to an end cancer cells from reproducing. Even after a cell begins to experience damage that can lead to cancer, what you eat and drink, and how you live can still help short-circuit the cancer process. It is thought that a diet containing defensive micronutrients as well as carcinogens and mutagens may adapt the risk of cancer development, particularly in genetically susceptible individuals.
Environmental and chemical carcinogenesis
Seminars in Cancer Biology, 2004
People are continuously exposed exogenously to varying amounts of chemicals that have been shown to have carcinogenic or mutagenic properties in experimental systems. Exposure can occur exogenously when these agents are present in food, air or water, and also endogenously when they are products of metabolism or pathophysiologic states such as inflammation. It has been estimated that exposure to environmental chemical carcinogens may contribute significantly to the causation of a sizable fraction, perhaps a majority, of human cancers, when exposures are related to "life-style" factors such as diet, tobacco use, etc. This chapter summarizes several aspects of environmental chemical carcinogenesis that have been extensively studied and illustrates the power of mechanistic investigation combined with molecular epidemiologic approaches in establishing causative linkages between environmental exposures and increased cancer risks.