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Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. There is growing evidence for a chemopreventive role of nutrition in the development of HCC in at risk populations. Bibliographical searches were performed in PubMed for the terms ‘nutrition and hepatocellular carcinoma’, ‘nutrition and liver cancer’, ‘nutrition and hepatic cancer’, ‘diet and hepatocellular carcinoma’, ‘diet and liver cancer’. High dietary sugar intake should be discouraged in at risk populations. Coffee, polyphenols, vanadium, dietary fibre, fruits and vegetables show encouraging results in terms of chemoprevention. Red meat intake may be associated with increased risk of HCC. The evidence for fatty acids is inconclusive, but they might exert anti-cancer effects. Inconclusive results are available on vitamins, selenium probiotics and prebiotics. There is increasing evidence that diet may play an important role in the development of HCC, and may also have a chemopreventive role in at risk populations.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Key issues
There is increasing evidence for a potential chemopreventive role of nutrition in hepatocellular carcinoma.
The majority of the evidences are from large epidemiological studies, but both in vivo and in vitro studies have led to the development of interesting hypotheses.
Increased fish intake, decreased red meat intake and dietary sugar could represent simple steps for diet modification in at-risk groups that may confer benefit.
Nutritional supplements, including polyphenols and some vitamins, for example, vitamin E appear to be beneficial and randomized trials are needed.
Notes
HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.
