Frank L. Meyskens Jr. - Böcker

Prasad and Meysken's new volume on Nutrients and Cancer Prevention highlights the rapid progress now being made in understanding the role of specific nutrients in the prevention and treatment of neoplastic disease. Nutritional oncology today focuses on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and their modification by nutrients, as indicated by cancer prevention studies in animals and humans. This unique book takes into account evidence from human intervention studies using one or more nutrients in a population at increased risk for developing certain types of cancer. International experts contribute chapters paying special attention to: mechanisms of carcinogenesis roles of carotenoids, retinoids, vitamin E, protease inhibitors, fatty acids, and selenium nutritional causes of colon cancer preliminary results of intervention trials use of retinoids, vitamin D, vitamin B6, and vitamin B1 in cancer treatment. Everyone involved in oncology, nutrition, pharmacology, cell biology, epidemiology, and related fields - whether in basic research or at the clinical level - will find Nutrients and Cancer Prevention a comprehensive source of information on this critically important topic.

During the last 10 years, the role of specific nutrients in cancer prevention and cancer treatment has been the subject of intense basic, preclinical, and clinical research. At present, the major focus of nutri­ tional oncology is on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and their modification by nutrients and on cancer prevention studies in animals and humans. Some human epidemiological studies have confirmed the hypothesis, developed on animals, that there is an inverse relation­ ship between the intake and/or level of !3-carotene, vitamin A vita­ min E, or vitamin C and the risk of cancer, whereas others have shown no such relationship. This is not unexpected, since the protective effect of individual nutrients may be too small to be detected by epidemiological methodologies in which a single vitamin or mineral is considered as one variable. Conclusive evidence regarding the role of nutrients in human cancer prevention will come from a well­ designed human intervention study using one or more nutrients in a population that has a high risk of developing cancer. The involvement of specific nutrients in the regulation of protooncogene expression has just begun. Also, some of the results of human intervention trials are beginning to yield interesting results. A large number of interna­ tional scientists from various disciplines, including cell biology, mo­ lecular biology, nutritional oncology, epidemiology, and public health, reviewed and discussed their most recent findings. The following topics were emphasized: 1. Mechanisms of carcinogenesis; 2.