Current Strategies for Cancer Prevention: Chemoprevention

Abstract

Observations at ecological level show strong correlation between exogenous exposures, such as fat consumption, and risk of cancers. The correlations are less but significant at an individual level between many dietary items and cancer risk based on case-control and cohort studies. Most specific attempts to evaluate the role of diet on cancer risk stems from use of serum sample banks and estimation of different components of biochemistry in cases of cancer and healthy controls. The extension of this vast amount of epidemiological knowledge has resulted in preventive trials, chemoprevention of cancer, and in routine use of preventive substances, vitamins and minerals. However, the trials are relatively few and even less frequent are those with invasive cancer as end point. Furthermore, the results of these trials have been rather negative, and it seems at present that vitamins and minerals videly used in adult age for chemopreventive purposes are relative ineffective to prevent occurrence of invasive cancer or death from cancer. This does not imply that these chemical substances were not causes of cancer.J Epidemiol, 1996 ; 6 : S39-S42.