Diet high in fibre cuts cancer risk

According to a recent study carried out by the Cancer Research Campaign, European Commission and the Medical Research Council of the eating habits of people, doubling a person's consumption of cereals, fruits and vegetables can halve the risk of bowel cancer.The findings contradict earlier research that suggested fibre did not protect against bowel cancer. The researchers examined the link between dietary fibre intake and incidence of colorectal cancer in 519,978 individuals aged 25-70 years taking part in the study, recruited from ten European countries. Participants completed a dietary questionnaire in 1992-98 and were followed up for cancer incidence. Relative risk estimates were obtained from fibre intake. Follow up consisted of 1065 reported cases of colorectal cancer in the analysis. Dietary fibre in foods was inversely related to incidence of large bowel cancer with the protective effect being greatest for the left side of the colon, and least for the rectum. The study showed different sources of fibre among people in the 10 countries but it did not seem to matter where it came from.

It suggested that if people who ate less than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day doubled their intake of fibre, the risk of bowel cancer could be slashed by 40 percent. People with the lowest risk were eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day plus the equivalent of five slices of whole-meal bread. It can be concluded that in populations with low average intake of dietary fibre, an approximate doubling of total fibre intake from foods could reduce the risk of colorectal cancer significantly.