Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals Play Important Role in Cancer Prevention

Your Mother WAS Right

"Functional foods" or "nutraceuticals" are foods or food constituents with potentially beneficial biological activities. The ability of vitamins, soy, vegetable components and other dietary substances to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases is an increasingly important area of research.

IITRI scientists have worked in the field of nutrition and cancer for nearly 30 years, and have made a number of important contributions. In the 1970's, IITRI scientists were the first to demonstrate that vitamin A and related compounds can protect against breast and urinary bladder cancer in animal models.

These studies were later extended to include cancer of the liver, respiratory tract and skin, and provide the scientific basis for numerous clinical trials in which synthetic vitamin A compounds (retinoids) are being studied for cancer prevention in high-risk individuals.

Other classes of natural compounds with demonstrated chemopreventive activity in animals include terpenes such as limonene (found in citrus oils), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, found in green and black tea), resveratrol (found in red wine), and sulforaphane and several isothiocyanates found in cruciferous vegetables.

Recent IITRI programs in nutrition have emphasized dietary approaches to prevent prostate cancer. Data to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in April 2002 demonstrate that two different components of soy (a protease inhibitor fraction and an isoflavone formulation enriched for genistein) protect against prostate cancer induction in rats. Similarly, 9-cisretinoic acid, a retinoid that is the endogenous ligand for the retinoid X receptor, also inhibits prostate carcinogenesis. By contrast, neither selenium, vitamin E, nor the combination of selenium + vitamin E confer any protection against prostate cancer induction.

Studies in progress are designed to evaluate the activity of a vitamin D analog, lycopene (the primary carotenoid found in tomatoes), and selenized yeast in prostate cancer prevention.