Science-Driven Nutritional Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

In population studies, dietary patterns clearly influence the development, progres-sion, and therapeutic response of cancers. Nonetheless, interventional dietary trials have had relatively little impact on the prevention and treatment of malignant disease. Stand-ardization of nutritional interventions combined with high-level mode-of-action studies holds the promise of identifying specific entities and pathways endowed with antineoplastic properties. Here, we critically review the effects of caloric restriction and more specific interventions on macro-and micronutrients in preclinical models as well as in clinical studies. We place special emphasis on the prospect of using defined nutrition-relevant molecules to enhance the efficacy of established anti-cancer treatments. Significance: The avoidance of intrinsically hypercaloric and toxic diets contributes to the prevention and cure of cancer. In addition, specific diet-induced molecules such as ketone bodies and micronu-trients, including specific vitamins, have drug-like effects that are clearly demonstrable in preclinical models, mostly in the context of immunotherapies. Multiple trials are underway to determine the clinical utility of such molecules.