Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer: An Overview

Nutrients and diet are key factors in the development, management, and treatment of diseases as diet influence each physiopathologic process in body. Diet which is usually viewed as a lifestyle factor, influences many chronic ailments, including cancers. More recently, investigations in animal models have led to the conclusion that dietary changes can affect the epigenetic status of genes and that these changes may raise or decrease the risk of cancer. Observational research in humans and animal models indicates the links between nutrition and epigenetic changes on the one hand and epigenetic changes and cancer on the other. This chapter highlights the importance of several diets, including the Mediterranean diet, the ketogenic diet, the epigenetic diet, and the significance of particular nutrients in the management and prevention of cancer.