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Food
and Cancer: Making Sense of the Studies
By Stephen Hart
Perhaps you choked on your bran muffin the other morning
when the news came out about a study showing that dietary fiber had
no apparent effect on the risk of colon cancer.
 It was a large study,
well done, conducted by a reputable group of
researchers.
And yet
nutritionists barely missed a beat. You shouldn't cut down on fiber
just because of the study, they said. It's still
important.
How are we
supposed to swallow that kind of apparent contradiction? The
accompanying pair of articles from HealthNews looks at the
state of evidence for fiber's role in cancer, and the role of various other foods
in cancer.
But first, some
context.
The message, "Eat
your vegetables," has been growing ever louder of late, coming not
from the American Mothers' Association, but from a growing cadre of
researchers looking into links between diet and cancer. They
estimate that diet may influence the development of some 30 percent
to 80 percent of certain
cancers.
Studies into the
cancer-prevention potential of specific chemicals in specific foods
abound, but it's looking more and more like simple, non-draconian
dietary changes can reduce the incidence of at least several
cancers. And the nutritionists' messages reflect
that.
For instance, a recent
review of the effects of diet on cancer in the august and normally
staid British Medical Journal boiled down dozens of research
papers into six simple dietary suggestions from the author, Dr. John
H. Cummings:
- Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.
- Eat plenty of unprocessed cereal foods, a source of fiber.
- Maintain near ideal body
weight.
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