Antioxidants in the prevention and treatment of cancer

Abstract

Cancer is considered the leading cause of death worldwide with 10 million deaths annually, the most prevalent are breast and lung cancer, and the main risk factors are overweight, smoking, sedentary lifestyle and a diet with low consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants, Therefore, this review article has the objective of identifying the influence and relationship of the consumption of antioxidants in the prevention and treatment of cancer. For this purpose, a bibliographic review of the last 5 years was carried out in scientific databases such as Google Scholar, SciELO, PubMed, Elsevier, Web of Science. The languages used were Spanish, English and Portuguese, as a result it was obtained that oxidative stress damages DNA, which generates a process of carcinogenesis, and antioxidants have the ability to prevent oxidative stress by stabilizing free radicals, so it was concluded that antioxidants can prevent cancer if consumed from natural sources, however in their treatment there are divided opinions, so more research should be conducted in depth on the subject.