Cancer and Nutrition

The role of nutrition in neoplasia has been of longstanding concern. The subject was addressed by investigators in the first decade of this century, but was dropped. Vigorous attention was paid to this area of oncology in the 1940s, primarily due to the efforts of Dr. A. Tannenbaum at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and the group at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. However, interest waned again until the 1970s when the question of diet and cancer was addressed and it has since been at the forefront of cancer research.

The present volume (7) of Human Nutrition: A Comprehensive Treatise summarizes current knowledge in the area of nutrition and cancer. The first chapter is an overview written by John Higginson, whose contribution to understanding of cancer and nutrition spans several decades. The next essays cover epidemiology and physiology. The ensuing chapters address, in tum, those dietary factors relating to nutrition and cancer, namely, carbohydrates, protein, fat, cholesterol, calories, lipotropics, fiber, fruits and vegetables, vitamins, and alcohol. In a field moving as rapidly as this one is now, we can expect to miss a few late-breaking developments, but generally, the literature has been well covered through some time in 1988. Work relating to the effects of diet on oncogenes is in its very early development and has not been addressed as an entity per se.