Dietary Antioxidants in the Chemoprevention of Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death. The incidence of prostate cancer is rising due to increased screening and awareness, and there is epidemiological evidence suggesting an interaction among biological and environmental risk factors in the development and progression of prostate cancer. Vegetables and fruits provide a wide range of antioxidants and phytochemicals that have been demonstrated to have a negative, positive, or no association with prostate cancer risk. Therefore, it is evident that the effect of dietary antioxidants on risk of prostate cancer remains undecided and inconclusive. The main focus of this review was to examine recent and past literature of the chemoprotective properties of five major groups of phytochemicals against prostate cancer development including both in vivo and in vitro findings. 2 oxidative stress from reactive oxygen species and loss of antioxidant enzymes may contribute to genomic instability prior to prostate cancer [9]. This paper will review information in the literature on the relationship between nutrients with antioxidant properties from the diet, and the risk of prostate cancer. Method of article selectionA literature search was conducted for all English language literature published before December 2018. The search was conducted using the electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. The search strategy included keywords such as prostate cancer, epidemiology, incidence, mortality, risk factor, selenium, vitamin E, vitamin C, carotenoids, and polyphenols.The authors include many interventional and observational studies that have reported findings of dietary antioxidants, prostate cancer incidence, and progression. The majority of these studies focused on vitamins E and C, carotenoids, specifically beta-and alpha-carotene and lycopene, phenols including tea and coffee, and the flavonoids, as well as selenium.