ABSTRACT
Cancer is a major public health problem. It is also the chronic toxic effect that is of most concern to the general population. Apparently, about 80%–90% of all incident cancers are determined by potentially controllable external factors. Thus food as well as life-style may supply many carcinogenic substances. Although, in many cases, there is still a lack of definitive evidence about which dietary characteristics most influence cancer risk, substances such as coffee, alcohol, pyrolysis products, nitrites, amines, fat, smoke, pesticides, and most kinds of mutagens have been implicated as etiological factors in cancer (Deshpande et al., 1995). Thus, both synthetic as well as naturally occurring chemicals may cause cancer. The role of xenobiotic chemicals in causing cancer is called chemical carcinogenesis.
