Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Epigenetics

Abstract

The search for a connection between diet and human cancer has a long history in cancer research, as has interest in the mechanisms by which dietary factors might increase or decrease cancer risk. The realization that altering diet can alter the epigenetic state of genes and that these epigenetic alterations might increase or decrease cancer risk is a more modern notion, driven largely by studies in animal models. The connections between diet and epigenetic alterations, on the one hand, and between epigenetic alterations and cancer, on the other, are supported by both observational studies in humans as well as animal models. However, the conclusion that diet is linked directly to epigenetic alterations and that these epigenetic alterations directly increase or decrease the risk of human cancer is much less certain. We suggest that true and measurable effects of diet or dietary supplements on epigenotype and cancer risk are most likely to be observed in longitudinal studies and at the extremes of the intersection of dietary risk factors and human population variability. Careful analysis of such outlier populations is most likely to shed light on the molecular mechanisms by which suspected environmental risk factors drive the process of carcinogenesis.

Dietary phytochemicals and cancer chemoprevention: a review of the clinical evidence

“…Cancer chemoprevention centers on the identification of agents that specifically impact early stages of cellular transformation [19, 20]. Naturally occurring phytochemicals have been found to have a wide range of cellular effects (Figure 1).…”

“…Select phytochemicals also enhance innate immune surveillance and improve the elimination of transformed cells [22]. Finally, phytochemicals have several impacts on intrinsic DNA repair mechanisms and may influence tumor suppressors and inhibit cellular proliferation pathways [19]. …”

Epigenetic Regulation in Etiology of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

“…The y are critical for the integration of endogenous an d environmental signals during the life [12][13][14]. Dysregulations of epigenetic mechanisms have been associated with a number of age related disorders including cancers an d autoimmunity [15,16]. Int.…”

Research Strategies for Nutritional and Physical Activity Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention

“…The epigenome interacts with the noncoding regions of the genome in carcinogenesis (116). Observational studies provide support for a link between epigenetic alterations and cancer (117,118). There is also evidence that diet is directly related to epigenetic alterations (118).…”