Prostate cancer and food-based antioxidants in India as plausible therapeutics

Abstract Cancer was the leading cause of an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018 which accounts for about 1 in 6 deaths. Around one-third of deaths from cancer are due to the behavioral and dietary risks which include high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol use. For therapy, surgery is preferred in case of solid tumors. Antitumor drugs along with radiation are also the treatment of choice in various instances. However, these cause serious drug toxicity in healthy tissues and are rarely able to target the tumor selectively. Antioxidants play a principal role in the maintenance of the homeostasis of the cell and the immune system. It has been evaluated by various studies that functional foods constituting these antioxidants can play a major role in cancer prophylaxis as they act as scavengers of free radicals that lie at the root of genetic alteration leading to carcinoma. In this chapter, we elaborate the pathogenesis of cancer and the utilization of functional foods in the molecular mechanism of prevention and prophylaxis of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most frequent cancer in men and the fifth leading cause of death throughout the world. At early stages, it may be asymptomatic and often has an indolent course requiring an active check on its progress. The current mainstay of treatment possesses multifarious limitations that emphasize on the need for exploring alternative therapeutics like antioxidants which can work to shift the paradigm of treatment and offer promising hope for the future.