Nutraceuticals for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer: A Comprehensive Review

The consumption of nutraceuticals may help prevent and treat cancer. Tropical plants are packed with copious nutraceuticals, including alkaloids, terpenoids, and phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids, lignans, and phenolic acids, and can be used as preventive and therapeutic phytochemical agents against cancer. For example, bael fruit, soybean, garlic, ginger, olive oil, pomegranate, common wheat, beetroot, green tea, cardoon, neem, turmeric, ashwagandha, and their main nutraceuticals are reviewed in this article for their cancer prevention and therapeutic properties. Various cell signaling pathways and genes involved in different types of cancers, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, prostate cancer, and oral cancer, are potential targets of nutraceutical anticancer effects and are discussed in this review.