Green Cancer Prevention and Beyond

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Nutritional Science
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Green chemoprevention, introduced in 2012, utilizes whole plant foods and extracts for cancer prevention.
• Early research focused on broccoli sprouts and black raspberries, demonstrating dose-responsive, low-toxicity effects in animals and humans.
• Dietary supplements represent a potential next-generation approach to green cancer prevention.

Approach:

• This review highlights refined concepts and proof-of-principle research in green chemoprevention.
• It examines whole foods like broccoli sprouts and black raspberries for their cancer-preventive activities.
• A recent trial evaluated broccoli seed/sprout extract for detoxifying tobacco carcinogens in smokers.

Key Points:

• Challenges include optimizing dose, duration, delivery, control groups, and standardization of plant-based interventions.
• Identifying molecular targets and selecting high-risk cohorts are crucial for study design.
• Precision green cancer prevention aims for robust human data linking plant compounds to cancer risk reduction.

Conclusions:

• Green chemoprevention, using whole foods and extracts, shows promise for cancer risk reduction.
• Dietary supplements derived from plants offer a potential avenue for next-generation cancer prevention strategies.
• Future research should focus on controlled human studies to validate plant-based cancer prevention targets.