Fruit and Vegetable Extracts in Treating Patients With Stage I-IV, Stage IVA/IVB Head and Neck Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Curatively treated stage I-IV (including stage IVA and IVB) squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract of 1 of the following primary sites:
• * Oral cavity
• * Oropharynx
• * Hypopharynx
• * Larynx
• Disease-free for at least 6 months and no more than 3 years after completion of surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy
• No synchronous tumors
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 18 and over
• Performance status
• Karnofsky 70-100% OR
• Zubrod 0-1
• Life expectancy
• At least 6 months
• Hematopoietic
• Hemoglobin ≥ 10 g/dL
• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• SGOT ≤ 40 U/L
• SGPT ≤ 56 U/L
• Renal
• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• Other
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, nonmelanoma skin cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• No other serious medical or psychiatric illness that would preclude giving informed consent
• No nausea ≥ grade 2
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• Not specified
• Chemotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 6 months and less than 3 years since prior chemotherapy
• No concurrent chemotherapy
• No other concurrent chemopreventive agents
• Endocrine therapy
• More than 6 months and less than 3 years since prior hormonal therapy
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 6 months and less than 3 years since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 6 months and less than 3 years since prior surgery
• No concurrent surgery
• Other
• More than 6 months and less than 3 years since prior investigational agents
• More than 2 months since prior high-dose vitamins (i.e., 10 times the recommended daily allowance \[8,000-10,000 IU of vitamin A, 600 mg of vitamin C, or 80-100 IU of vitamin E\])