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High fiber diets

14th Dec 2005, 19:52 GMT

A new study out of Harvard disputes the claim that a fiber-rich diet helps prevent colon cancer. Eating a lot of fiber-rich vegetables, fruits, and whole grains does not appear to reduce a person's chances of getting colorectal cancer, researchers found in the largest study yet to test the popular and longstanding idea about preventing the third most common cancer. The research team, led by the Harvard School of Public Health, combined and reanalyzed data from 13 previous studies involving 725,628 adults and found that a person who ate 30 or more grams of fiber each day, the equivalent of more than seven servings of oatmeal, had about the same risk of getting colorectal cancer as a person who ate less than half that amount. The results were adjusted to take into account other risk factors, such as red meat consumption and age. ''This is the most exhaustive study, throwing everything into one pot," said Dr. Robert Mayer, director of the center for gastrointestinal cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Doubts about the relationship between fiber and colorectal cancer have been growing among oncologists and gastroenterologists, as smaller studies of fiber's benefits in recent years yielded widely inconsistent results. But several physicians said that many patients still strongly believe they can prevent colorectal cancer by eating a high-fiber diet. After being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, the doctors said, many patients ask whether they should have eaten more produce and whole-grain cereal. ''It became an urban myth," said Dr. David Ryan, medical director of the gastrointestinal cancer center at Massachusetts General Hospital. ''It takes a lot of time to deconstruct those." But Dr. John Baron, an internist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire who wrote an editorial accompanying today's study, said that more research is needed about fiber's long-term impact on colorectal cancer, particularly since there are different types of fiber, which may have varying medicinal qualities. And the study did find that a diet of more than 25 grams of fiber a day was associated with a slightly reduced risk of cancer of the rectum alone.

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