Human diet and cancer

Archive for November, 2011

The cancers are the uncontrollable growth of the cell where the cell proliferation is larger and more over the normal functionality of the human body is being altered. Apoptosis which can be called as the programed cell death or cell suicide and the function of apoptosis happen only in the presence of mRNA and protein synthesis. It is normal process that happens in the human body which requires the tissue remodeling. For this to happen effectively the cells must have a coordinate proliferation in response to the external stimuli. This is the normal function of the cells. When apoptosis is related to cancer cells it doesn’t abide and follow several genetic changes where the cell death is decreased. Apoptosis is also important when the cancer patient is being treated with radiation and chemotherapy. However this function is not confined to regressing tumours but still it balances the cell proliferation and cell death.

It is clear that some of the chemicals that are high in energy causes cancer in the human body when the body is exposed to those rays. Ionizing radiation comprises of energy that are higher than in the chemical bonds and henceforth those chemical bonds can be broken by these highly energized rays. Of course when human body is exposed to this radiation it affects many regions of the body but still water and DNA are mainly affected which are highly responsible for the causes of cancer. The energy from these rays passes through the water and it form electrons which in turn generate reactive radicals. This process of carcinogens happens in just few seconds. Of course the consequences may take long time to appear. All humans are exposed to some background radiation that hits the earth from the atmospheric sources. The factor that is still debatable is that how much of radiation can human incur and what will be the threshold limit for the occurrence of cancer.

A definition of carcinogens is that any agent that induces the cancer. Chemical and radiation can both induce cancers in the human body. Chemical carcinogens enter into the human body by damaging DNA or by some other means causing cancer to grown in the human body. Guanine is the frequent or common target for the carcinogens. Reactive oxygen species that penetrate the human body that generates naturally or artificial sources that damage the DNA and moreover it alters the normal signal of course antioxidants such as dietary vitamins can protect the cancer. All these are based on genotoxic carcinogens. Non genotoxic carcinogens actions are still unclear in the human body. Several sources of natural and synthetic radiation can cause cancer that includes ultra violet rays which causes skin cancer. Mutational spectrum analysis can be done to identify the agents involved in human carcinogenesis from type of DNA damage seen in different types of cancers.

Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes play vital role in the carcinogenesis which is highly responsible for the formation of the tumor. Oncogenes are normal genes and there is an alteration in its activity once there are changes in the genetic alteration. For the change to happen in the oncogenes only one allele of the oncogenes has to be altered. The function of many metabolic pathways is being altered which is followed by the changes in the oncogenes. This includes membrane receptor, signal transduction and gene transcription. Tumor suppressor genes code for inhibitors proteins whose functions are lost once the cancer is being formed. Tumor suppressor proteins are being activated by the protein phosphorylation, mutation or binding with the other proteins. This tumor suppressor genes influence many pathways of the cell functionality which includes the cell proliferation and death.

The second major cause for the causes of the cancer in the human body is diet. Fruits and vegetables are proven that it prevents the human body from certain cancers. The biggest effect of food is seen in the gastrointestinal tract and although lung and breast doesn’t have contact with the food consumed yet it is also being affected due this diet factor. The confusing actor about the diet is that whether removal of bad factor helps to avoid cancer or the inclusive of good factor helps to avoid cancer and sometimes both the factors. A high meat consumption are responsible for some of the causes of cancer possibly breast, prostate, pancreatic and kidney cancer. Alcohol is being included in several regions and this alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer to that particular person. Hence the efficient practice of healthy diet in their lifestyle not only reduces the risk of cancer but also several other types of diseases are also reduced.