Breast Cancer and Phytochemicals

Abstract

Phytochemicals are natural, therapeutic compounds that are synthesized as secondary metabolites in plants. These natural compounds have important regulatory effects in pathological conditions with oncogenic or tumor suppressive effects in the cancer process. There are a number of studies showing that diet is a changeable factor associated with breast cancer risk and phytochemicals with anticarcinogenic effects are among these factors. Phytochemical index is a simple method used in the evaluation of phytochemical uptake and may be an important basis for determining the relationship between diet quality and chronic diseases. In our review, main debate is about the association between dietary phytochemicals or phytochemical index and the risk of breast cancer.