Food and
Cancer
By Richard H. Gravelly, D.C.
It has been offered by well-known individuals, some of them are people
of medicine and some are not, that in the future medicine will use foods
to cure disease. Food components (vitamins and minerals) have been used
for some time now to cure conditions that have been caused by deficiencies
of vitamins and minerals. Herbs (foods) have been used as well. Unfortunately
there is not much certainty as to why foods, such as herbs and herbal
abstracts have an effect upon a disease process. It is hoped by some
researchers that the new technologies which have been born through the
genomics revolution, such as proteomics and nanotechnologies will give
rise in turn to the opportunity to monitor thousands of molecules in
key pathways and help to evaluate the influence of foods and specific
food constituents.
C. J.Piyathilake and Johanning,
G.L. of the Department of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Alabama
at Birmigham have “observed significant interactions among cancer-protective
vitamins and global DNA methylation at the level of tissues.”
This is highly significant because, as they say, “There is very
little doubt that a higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated
with a lower incidence of cancer. Although deficiency of micronutrients
(vitamins and minerals) is a plausible explanation for much of the protective
effect of fruits and vegetables, the mechanisms underlying these associations
and the specific nutrients responsible for the observed effect are far
from clear.” Most vitamin and mineral deficiencies are determined
through blood levels of nutrients. However, determination of tissue
levels would allow more accuracy. The above authors have had their article
“Cellular Vitamins, DNA Methylation and Cancer Risk” printed
in Nutrition 132:2340S-2344S, 2002. These researchers state, “A
large majority of studies conducted to investigate the importance of
vitamins in cancer either concentrated on dietary intake data or circulating
concentrations of vitamins. These parameters may not reflect the vitamin
levels in target tissues where cancers develop. The importance of quantifying
vitamin concentrations in the target tissues to understand their role
in cancer prevention is beginning to be appreciated.”
There is however an apparent
paucity of such appreciation. As Milner points out in the abstract of
his article “Incorporating Basic Nutrition Science into Health
Interventions for Cancer” found at nutrition.org, “Unfortunately,
the diet and cancer research domain is strewn with studies that were
inadequately designed to monitor biological endpoints, used invalid
biomarkers, or monitored irrelevant intakes or exposures.” In
discussing the relationship between nutrition and cancer, he points
out that “Genetic instability appears to be an early and essential
event in tumor development that can ultimately influence a host of biological
processes.” Trying to determine what brings about that instability
presents a difficulty. “The effort is to prevent and treat cancer
with nutrition, if possible, once molecular information relating diet
to cancer processes surfaces.”
There are many reasons why
different individuals and different genes respond to various foods.
However, one of the real questions is: to what is the gene or individual
responding. Milner points out “Although it has been almost three
decades since dietary habits we proposed to account for 60% of cancers
in women and >40% in men, the foods and food components that provide
the greatest protection remain largely obscure.” Later in his
article, he goes on to say: “The magnitude of the problem in understanding
the role of the diet is further illustrated by the fact that thousands
of compounds are consumed in the foods ingested every day. The dearth
of information about the biological response to specific components
is particularly troubling and is limiting the ability to unravel which
bioactive components are most important in physiological processes,
including those involving normal and neoplastic cells. For example,
although it is estimated that humans may be exposed to >5000 flavonoids,
only a few have been examined for their anticarcinogenic effects.”
Good Health!
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