ABSTRACT
Diet has been considered to be the primary lifestyle factor that influences risk for development of several gastrointestinal cancers. While advances in molecular genetics point toward some commonalities in the cellular evolution of inherited forms of GI cancer, migration studies in populations have lent support that some aspects in diet impart a preeminent risk for cancer. Although the number of studies in which garlic extracts or purified organosulfur compounds have been tested in as inhibitors of carcinogenesis are limited, the results reported are distinguished by the degree of efficacy in their prevention of cancer. Experimental chemoprevention studies have lent themselves to a rapid exploration of garlic and associated members of the allium vegetables for substances that inhibit cancer development. A recent ecological study in China and a case-control study in Italy are suggestive of protection from gastrointestinal cancer when garlic and other alliums are a continuing part of the diet.
