Before discussing the effects of diet and nutrition on the incidence of

cancer, it is useful to review what is known about the nature of cancer, the
basis for suspecting a relationship between diet and cancer, and the
stages of carcinogenesis at which diet may exert an effect. Cancer:
population of cells in the body that have the ability to spread and multiply
without the normal restraints .The pathological classification of all these
growth abnormalities (or neoplasias) depends on (1) the tissue of origin,
(2) the type of cell involved, and (3) most importantly, whether the
abnormal cells are confined to their original location (in which case the
tumor is classified as benign) or have invaded the surrounding tissues or
metastasized to distant sites (in which case the tumor counts as a
cancer) It seems likely that most cancers arise from the proliferation of a
single altered cell.
Normal cells require signals that are usually delivered by ligands to
stimulate the growth or stop it, these signals or ligands can be in the form
of growth factors and inhibitors, extracellular cell components or cell
adhesion molecules. These signals are transmitted into the cell through
proteins found in the outer membrane of the cell called receptors. When
these ligands bind to the receptors they send signals to the cell that
stimulate the growth or inhibit it. However, malignant cells produce their
own growth signals that allow them to divide with extremely low external
growth stimulation; it is called the autocrine stimulation. In normal cells
the production of cell surface receptors is limited by gene expression and
protein translation, in tumor cells however, cancerogens cause mutations
in the genes encoding for the receptors that disrupts this regulation,
which results in an overexpression of receptors in the tumor cells.
Moving on how does the diet influence cancer. At first glance. it may seem
that the affect of diet on cancer is really small, however, diet, physical
activity and obesity are related to 30-35% of cancer deaths. Some experts
even noted that 1 to 10 cancer cases could be prevented through a
healthy diet. And because many of the cancers are related to overnutrition
in particular, a balance in the diet in general can help maintain a healthy
body weight which can reduce the risk of many cancers. The link between
diet and cancer is complex and difficult to unravel. This is because our
diet is made up of lots of different foods and nutrients. Many of these
could affect our risk of cancer. Diet is related to specific types of cancer
Very few specific foods or drinks have been shown to raise or lower the
risk of cancer. It is very difficult to design studies that accurately look at
the effect of a single food item or nutrient. Scientists need to conduct very
large studies to see which specific foods may reduce the risk of cancer,
and which could raise the risk. Many of these studies are underway,

including the EPIC study(link is external) (European Prospective

Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) which is part funded by Cancer
Research UK. The EPIC study is the largest study into diet and cancer to
date, and it involves over 500,000 people from 10 European countries who
are being followed for many years. Results from EPIC and other large
studies are already providing us with firmer answers.