Flavonoids and Colorectal Cancer in Italy

Abstract

Because of their several biological activities, flavonoids may have an important role in explaining the protective effects of vegetables, fruit, and, possibly, tea against cancer. The potential relation between flavonoids and colorectal cancer risk was investigated using data from a multicentric Italian case-control study, including 1,953 cases of colorectal cancers (1,225 colon cancers and 728 rectal cancers) and 4,154 hospital controls admitted for acute nonneoplastic diseases. We have applied recently published data on the composition of foods and beverages, in terms of six principal classes of flavonoids, on dietary information collected through a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated by multiple logistic regression models, including terms for sex, age, study center, family history of colorectal cancer, education, alcohol consumption, body mass index, physical activity, and energy intake. A reduced risk of colorectal cancer was found for increasing intake of isoflavones (OR, 0.76, for the highest versus the lowest quintile, P trend = 0.001), anthocyanidins (OR, 0.67, P trend < 0.001), flavones (OR, 0.78, P trend = 0.004), and flavonols (OR, 0.64, P trend < 0.001). No significant association was found for flavan-3-ols (OR, 0.98), flavanones (OR, 0.96), and total flavonoids (OR, 0.97). The estimates did not substantially differ for colon and rectal cancers, as well as in strata of sex, age, and body mass index. The findings of this large study provide support for an inverse association of selected classes of flavonoids with colorectal cancer risk. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(8):1555 -8)

Blueberry anthocyanins and pyruvic acid adducts: anticancer properties in breast cancer cell lines

“…Also, extract II had a more noticeable effect than extract I, particularly in MDA-MB-231 cells. (Rossi et al, 2006;Tavani et al, 2006). These compounds have been widely studied for their biological properties, namely antioxidant, anti-bacterial, antiinflammatory, anti-cancer among others (Gerhauser, 2008;Heinonen, 2007;Wang and Stoner, 2008).…”

The role of herbs and spices in cancer prevention

“…How this contribution relates to an overall phenotypic response remains to be established. Regardless, there is concern that such food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) do not adequately assess herb and spice intake and thus provides an incomplete assessment of dietary exposures and their ability to contribute to accurate exposure assessment for flavonoids and other compounds of interest (29).…”

Bioactive Chromone Derivatives – Structural Diversity

“…Rossi and collaborators [26][27][28][29] have evaluated the relationship between flavonoid (2-phenyl-chromone, Fig. (2)) intake and the appearance of several types of human cancer, having established chemoprotective effects towards colorectal, pharyngeal, laryngeal, oral and ovarian cancer risk for this type of chromone-based compounds.…”

“…(1)) present in several species of higher plants, are responsible for significant biological functions at nontoxic concentrations in living organisms. They display a marked antioxidant capacity [29,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], through two main antioxidant pathways: 1) direct reaction with free radicals; 2) chelation of metal ions such as Fe(II) and Cu(II), involved in free radical-generating reactions (e.g. production of reactive oxygen species).…”