Dietary fiber, vegetables and cancer
Potter, J.D.
Journal of Nutrition 118(12): 1591-1592
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 2850356 Document Number: 312987
The controversy regarding the relation between cancer and dietary fibre is reviewed. Human data on the relation between high fibre consumption and the lowering of risk of colon cancer are not particularly convincing. Also, human analytical epidemiology, both case-control and cohort studies, are inconsistent in their findings on colon cancer and fibre. What is consistent is that higher intake of vegetables is associated with lower risk of colon cancer; but vegetables contain a great deal more than fibre. In the present state of knowledge, it is premature to make recommendations as to whether to eat more fibre to lower the risk of colorectal cancer. Many people interpret fibre as wheat bran; and evidence shows that wheat bran will not lower cancer risk, although vegetables (in all their complexity) do. The advice for the moment should be "eat more vegetables" and not "eat more fibre".