CRC Press Carcinogenic and Anticarcinogenic Food Components: 8 (Chemical & Functional Properties of Food Components)

Dietary cancer prophylaxis is based on the detailed knowledge of carcinogenic and anticarcinogenic properties of food constituents. Although much data has been collected on these elements, an understanding of the causal mechanisms that link diet and cancer is still evolving. Carcinogenic and Anticarcinogenic Food Components explains the broad spectrum of information available on these compounds and examines what is behind their complexities. Internationally renowned biochemists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and food scientists present the most recent studies that relate cancer risk to particular dietary components and discuss the latest clinical trials that evaluate the benefits of nutritional interventions. They discuss dietary sources containing carcinogenic compounds, their abundance in foods, and their possible cancer risks. Conversely, they explain the cancer- preventive potential of food components and the basic mechanisms and targets of chemoprevention. Chapters focus on the phenolic compounds found in tea, wine polyphenols and resveratrol, flavanoids of fruits and vegetables, carotenoids, constituents of cruciferous vegetables, and phytoestrogens. Additional information highlights the molecular and cellular events mediated by exposure to food carcinogens or chemopreventive agents. The book concludes with a perspective on the impact of diet on cancer prevention based on human trials and discusses future directions of research in this important field. Wide-ranging in scope and thorough in detail, Carcinogenic and Anticarcinogenic Food Components is an important resource for those interested in leveraging vital information on cancer promoting and cancer preventing food components. Review "... The three editors and their 33 contributors of the 17 chapters have covered this subject very well. … covers wide-ranging subjects, with interesting information on the causes and the likelihood of prevention of cancer from the consumption of selective foods. …gives a good understanding of this interesting and controversial issue, which could be of interest to research scientists in trying to understand the importance of diet on human health in general. It also gives an insight into this issue to professionals working within the food industry and to researchers in food science and nutrition." ―Ara Kanekanian, in International Journal of Dairy Technology, Vol 61, No 3 August 2008