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I was reading a probably not to serious webpage and I found this quote

" Certain types of vegetables, such as the cruciferous variety, are not only nutrient-dense but contain compounds that may fight cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute."

Then I looked more information about this, but I can only find references to foods helping prevent cancer but they dont seem to say they help fight cancer when it's already present.

This page says the following foods help prevent cancer, but later make an ambiguos statement that you could think they imply those foods help fighting cancer when it's presented

The following is a list of foods that have been shown to have cancer-fighting properties. While some are well-known super foods, others may surprise you. You won’t find a burger or fries on this list – when it comes to cancer prevention, clean eating prevails:

http://www.cancercenter.com/community/newsletter/article/Foods-that-have-cancer-fighting-properties/

So, my question is, are there foods which not only prevent but help fighting cancer when it already exists?

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    $\begingroup$ Short answer: No, for neither of the two questions. $\endgroup$
    – Chris ♦
    Commented Oct 8, 2017 at 21:29
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    $\begingroup$ What about this, is not serious or fake? "In conclusion, the results from our laboratory and from others provide ample evidence for the benefit of I3C and DIM for the prevention and the treatment of prostate cancer." ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15570059 (sorry for insisting, just looking to understand why there are some aparently real sources which seems to claim so) $\endgroup$
    – Pablo
    Commented Oct 8, 2017 at 21:48
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    $\begingroup$ It seriously shows that you can put chemicals in a petri dish and kill cells from cell cancer lines. That is not evidence that the chemical would do the same thing in a person. The "MAY fight cancer" (emphasis mine) is doing a lot of work there. $\endgroup$
    – swbarnes2
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 18:07
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    $\begingroup$ Lack of evidence of foods that prevent or fight cancer is not the same as there being no foods that prevent or fight cancer. There are logistical issues and lack of monetary incentives associated with running clinical trials to test the efficacy of foods in preventing or fighting cancer. $\endgroup$
    – sterid
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 3:34
  • $\begingroup$ @swbarnes2 so to summarize, it's doubtful. $\endgroup$
    – Pablo
    Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 13:30

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The short answer is, no. There really isn't any good evidence that a person can eat enough of any chemical to have a clinically detectable effect on cancer.

Note that any study that shows an effect on cancer cells in a petri dish doesn't count as demonstrating that it would do anything in a person with cancer. It might be that the chemical would not work the same in the body, or would not work the same on real cancer cells growing in a person (not cells cultivated to grow in a petri dish for 30 years). And even if they did kill cancers like in a petri dish, that doesn't mean that you can actually eat enough of the chemical to get a high enough concentration to have that effect.

That link is pretty much click-bait, and nothing more.

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    $\begingroup$ Cryptotanshinone is a good example. Exhibiting anti-cancer effects against cancerous cell lines such as LOVO cells, the bio-availability through oral administration in rats was found to be less than 10% (ref1, ref2). The oral dose was 100mg/kg of HPLC-purified CT in the rat model. A separate production paper was able to produce 23.2mg of CT per gram of inoculum (Salvia miltiorrhiza root cells) (ref). $\endgroup$
    – CKM
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 18:37
  • $\begingroup$ And the half-life is ~6.67 hours in the rat model, from the 1st reference. So just imagine: You're 88kg and need to consume 100mg/kg every 12-18 hours. That means eating 0.85lb of root material. Never mind poisoning from accessory compounds in the roots, among a list of other potential problems, such as even lower bioavailability in an impure form. $\endgroup$
    – CKM
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 18:39
  • $\begingroup$ I've received an email from a cancer researcher from Denmark. I asked her if it was true she stated a chemical component of carrots delay cancer development in rats. She gave me some links and stated yes. $\endgroup$
    – Pablo
    Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 13:24
  • $\begingroup$ What cancer researcher? Where are her findings published? No matter what nonsense you propose, you can find a quack willing to support it. $\endgroup$
    – swbarnes2
    Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 23:21

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