Natural products in the prevention of cancer: A review

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly one of every four deaths. An estimated 1,665,540 new cancer diagnoses and about 585,720 cancer-related mortalities were expected in 2014. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), total cancer costs were approximately $216.6 billion in 2009 (ACS Cancer Facts & Figures 2014). Longer life expectancies were accountable, in part, for the increasing prevalence of cancer and its financial burden. While considerable progress has been made in antineoplastic drug development, mitigation of existing cancers is limited by the toxicity of these agents. Despite a rapidly evolving repertoire of molecular therapeutics in clinical oncology, the majority of malignancies remain incurable.