Anticancer effects of plant products - exotic superfoods and products from the Polish food pyramid

Abstract

Cancer diseases are a health problem both in developed and developing countries. The biologically active compounds contained in food can act protectively at each stage of carcinogenesis: initiation, promotion and progression of a tumor. Antitumor activity exhibit a lot of products belonging to the "superfoods". In the list of superfoods you can find such nutritional titbits like algae, aloe vera, goji and acai berries or quinoa. But there are also traditional products that can be found in the Polish pyramid of healthy eating (wholegrain cereals, indigenous vegetables, fruit). The role of nutrients in reducing the risk of cancer development had not always been clearly confirmed. The results obtained in experimental and epidemiological studies appear often contradictory. This may be related to different amounts of biologically active compounds consumed in epidemiological studies and administered separately in experimental ones, and / or to the interdependencies occuring between the various components present in the overall dietary products.