Nanotech May Herald Novel Anti-Cancer Nutritional Therapeutics

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating particles to a nanoscale in order to create new materials measuring between one and 100 nanometers (one billionth of a meter) in size.   In the food and supplements industries, nanotechnology is being used to create nanomaterials, which allow nutrients to be delivered to the body more effectively or be absorbed more rapidly. Focusing on the pathway of chronic inflammation, which has been implicated as having a contributory role in many chronic illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, researchers from The University of Texas (Texas, USA) report that nanotechnology can further a compound’s bioavailability. The team explains that while “various nutraceuticals from fruits, vegetables, vitamins, spices, legumes, and traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine have been shown to safely suppress proinflammatory pathways, … their low bioavailability in vivo limits their use in preventing and treating cancer.”  The researchers submit that nanotechnology can address this issue, noting that nutraceuticals such as curcumin, green tea polyphenols, coenzyme Q, and quercetin “have been packaged as nanoparticles and proven to be useful in ‘nanochemoprevention’ and ‘nano-chemotherapy’.”