Trends in Diet and Cancer Research: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Oncology
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Diet significantly impacts cancer patients throughout their treatment journey.
• Established organizations emphasize nutrition's role in cancer prevention.
• Existing literature provides a foundation for understanding diet-cancer relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed publications on dietary components and cancer.
• To identify trends in diet-cancer research since 1970.
• To highlight research gaps and opportunities for future investigation.

Main Methods:

• Literature search using PubMed with diet and cancer keywords and MeSH terms.
• Analysis of metadata from 99,784 publications across 6,469 journals.
• Examination of trends across 19 tumor types and specific dietary components.

Main Results:

• Research predominantly focuses on breast, colorectal, and liver cancers.
• Fewer studies investigate diet links to brain, gallbladder, or ovarian cancers.
• High-fat diets and alcohol are common 'unhealthy' diet topics; Mediterranean diet, fruits, and vegetables are key 'healthy' diet topics.

Conclusions:

• There is a need for more research on under-investigated cancers and specific dietary components.
• Further investigation into diet during and after cancer therapy is crucial for survivorship.
• Future research should address identified gaps to advance nutritional oncology.