The Role of Nutrition in the Prevention of Cancer

This thesis is being archived as a Digitized Shelf Copy for campus access to current students and staff only. We currently cannot provide this open access without the author's permission. If you are the author of this work and desire to provide it open access or wish access removed, please contact the Wahlstrom Library to discuss permission.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the importance of nutrition as a component in cancer prevention. This study looks at the research showing the effect of fruits, vegetables, red meat, processed meat and specific phytochemicals (sulforaphanes and anthocyanins) in cancer prevention. Basic Procedures – The database used for searching was PubMed. Researched focused on papers showing cancer prevention and specific mechanisms of phytochemicals in cancer prevention. Papers were chosen that were published within the last 20 years. Main Findings – Vegetables and fruits showed overall correlation with prevention of cancer. Red meat and processed meat correlated with an increase in cancer. Sulforaphanes and anthocyanins had multiple mechanism of action in cancer prevention. Principal Conclusions - An anti-cancer diet is one that is full of fruits and vegetables, with an emphasis placed on cruciferous vegetables and eating a variety of color. The diet has low red and processed meat consumption, with a focus on organic poultry, fish and vegetarian sources of protein such as beans and nuts. This diet also focuses on complex carbohydrates and tries to avoid simple carbohydrates. Finally, an emphasis should be placed on healthy fat consumption with olive oil being an important part of the diet