Cancer Screening and Occurrence in Kangemi;potential Prevention of Cancer Through Consumption of African Nightshade Leafy Vegetable, Using a Mice Model

Abstract

Cancer is a disease that is steadily on the rise in Kenya despite the fact that two-thirds of the prevalence is due to preventable causes. One of these causes is poor dietary habits. Healthy diets include high levels of vegetable consumption. African leafy vegetables are easily available to both the urban and rural communities. The vegetables have high nutrient content and some of them have been implicated in the cure of chronic diseases. In the past, the vegetables were shunned in favor of their exotic counterparts. The African nightshade leafy vegetable is a side dish by communities in Kenya especially those in western and coastal regions. The vegetable has also been associated with medicinal properties to cure conditions such as stomach ache and inflammatory conditions in traditional medicine. It is presumed therefore that vegetable has the potential for conferring preventive properties against diseases such as cancer. This study was therefore designed to assess the preventive properties of African nightshade leafy vegetables against the expression of a tumor-activated protein. The study was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a baseline survey was carried out in Kangemi a slum in Nairobi County. A sample of 439 households was calculated using Fischer formulae. The simple random sampling was used to select the households that would participate. The cross-sectional survey was an interviewer-administered questionnaire. In addition, the questionnaire included a food frequency section over a week’s period and a demographics and economics section. It also included questions on cancer screening and the prevalence of leafy vegetable consumption. In the second phase, laboratory analysis used a factorial design. The two treatments assessed were, cooked vegetables, raw vegetables, against a control. The antioxidant activity of the leafy vegetable was determined using the Trolox standard. The expression of the tumor-activated protein (urokinase....