Nutrients, vitamins and minerals in cancer prevention: facts and fallacies.

In this paper, a summary is first presented of the important facts that have linked diet and dietary habits to human cancers, with the purpose of identifying the sources and extent of food fallacies that associate "nutrients, vitamins, and minerals" in cancer prevention. Then examples are presented of the many fallacies that persuade consumers to make dangerous, inappropriate and/or ineffective dietary choices. Minimizing food faddism and dietary quackery with its false claims about diet and cancer requires an important counterchallenge on the part of health professionals. There is a great need to determine the possible role of nutrients and dietary components in the development of neoplastic disease in human populations in order to develop rational and safe food and nutrition policies. Concurrently, nutrition education should receive increased research support in order to improve techniques and approaches for informing policy makers, the food industry and public accurately and objectively of the recent advances in the study of nutrition and cancer prevention and their practical and health significance.