Dietary Supplements in Cancer Prevention and Therapy

Over half of all US people now use nutritional supplements, making it a multimillion-dollar industry. Although various expert committees and organizations have concluded that there is little to no scientific evidence that supplements lower cancer risk, supplement use is motivated in part by the assumption that nutritional supplements might stave off chronic diseases, including cancer. The possible anticancer effects of calorie-restricted eating plans and substances including vitamins, ginseng, curcumin, green tea extracts, probiotics, melatonin, and amino acids have drawn attention in recent years. Although it is impossible to draw firm conclusions in this area, many patients choose complementary anticancer therapies that try to increase the efficacy or lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, despite their dubious advantages and potential for negative interactions with other treatments. In comparison to people who have not had cancer, cancer survivors utilize dietary supplements more frequently and they contribute more to total nutrient consumption. A subset of patients may benefit from nutritional supplementation that is customized for them based on their genetics, tumor histology, background diet, and treatments. Clinicians should talk openly with patients about dietary supplements. Supplement advice needs to be individualized and come from a credible source, and it is best communicated by the physician. Thus, further study is required to determine whether cancer survivors who consume dietary supplements also consume a variety of other dietary elements. Moreover, prospective, and clinical research are needed to properly understand the connection between the use of dietary supplements and cancer prognosis. This chapter explores various dietary supplements used in cancer prevention and therapy. The most popular supplements used in cancer prevention are multivitamins and minerals followed by ginseng, green tea, curcumin, probiotics, melatonin, and amino acids.