Dietary Restrictions and Cancer Prevention: State of the Art

By:
Greta Caprara, Rani Pallavi, Shalini Sanyal, Pier Giuseppe Pelicci
Date:
2025
Resource type:
Peer review
Link:

This comprehensive review discusses the evidence linking dietary restrictions—including calorie restriction (CR), intermittent fasting (IF), and fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs)—with cancer prevention. It explores how reduced food intake without malnutrition can positively impact metabolic pathways, inflammation, insulin sensitivity, and autophagy, all of which are connected to cancer risk. The review highlights both preclinical and human evidence, emphasizing that while rodent models consistently show benefits, human results are more variable. Nonetheless, dietary restriction remains a promising strategy to prevent cancer and improve outcomes in survivors.

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