Nutrition, aging and cancer: lessons from dietary intervention studies
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REVIEW
Open Access
Nutrition, aging and cancer: lessons from dietary intervention studies Giuseppe Carruba1*, Letizia Cocciadiferro2, Antonietta Di Cristina2, Orazia M. Granata3, Cecilia Dolcemascolo1, Ildegarda Campisi1, Maurizio Zarcone1, Maria Cinquegrani2 and Adele Traina4
Abstract There is convincing epidemiological and clinical evidence that, independent of aging, lifestyle and, notably, nutrition are associated with development or progression of major human cancers, including breast, prostate, colorectal tumors, and an increasingly large collection of diet-related cancers. Mechanisms underlying this association are mostly related to the distinct epigenetic effects of different dietary patterns. In this context, Mediterranean diet has been reported to significantly reduce mortality rates for various chronic illnesses, including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Although many observational studies have supported this evidence, dietary intervention studies using a Mediterranean dietary pattern or its selected food components are still limited and affected by a rather large variability in characteristics of study subjects, type and length of intervention, selected end-points and statistical analysis. Here we review data of two of our intervention studies, the MeDiet study and the DiMeSa project, aimed at assessing the effects of traditional Mediterranean diet and/or its component(s) on a large panel of both plasma and urine biomarkers. Both published and unpublished results are presented and discussed.
Background Cancer represents today the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular diseases, despite the fact that cancer mortality rates have been declining since 90ies because of either early diagnosis/ screening programs or an increasingly larger array of therapeutic options [1]. In this context, the continuous rise in life expectancy has significantly contributed to the steady increase of cancer risk among general population [2]. However, mechanisms underlying both aging and cancer processes are still subjects of controversies more than consensuses, though cancer and aging seem to share common, rather than antagonistic, etiologies [3]. Notwithstanding, it ought to be emphasized that the onset of many chronic illnesses, including cancer, is occurring today at an average age earlier than ever, with a progressive leftward shift in the age of onset of various diseases including diabetes, cancer and obesity [4, 5]. This alarming figure would implies that, at least as far as cancer is concerned, the increasing incidence of human malignancies is not * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Division of Research and Internationalization, ARNAS-Civico Di Cristina e Benfratelli, Palermo, Italy Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
only related to the current increase in life expectancy, but other key risk factors, mostly related to lifestyle and environment, must be taken into account. A number of both epidemiological and clin
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