According to a cnn.com report, recent studies have shown that having a high-fiber diet does not reduce the risk of colon cancer, though useful in many ther ways.
Following text of the report:
A high-fiber diet does not prevent the polyps that can lead to colorectal cancer, according to two large studies published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Each year 130,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and 56,000 die from the disease. Previous research suggested a high-fiber diet could reduce a person's risk, but those studies did not directly measure the anti-cancer effects of a high-fiber diet.
"There may be many reasons to eat a diet that is low in fat and high in fiber, fruits, and vegetables or to supplement the diet with a food high in cereal fiber, but preventing colorectal adenomas, at least for the first three to four years, is not one of them," said Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in an accompanying editorial.
The doctors in both NEJM studies used colorectal adenomas -- polyps that can turn into tumors -- to gauge the effectiveness of a high-fiber diet. Polyps were used because they appear faster, while colorectal cancer itself can take years to develop.
In the first study, conducted at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), researchers put 958 people on a low-fat, high-fiber, high-fruit and vegetable diet. Another 947 people were given information on how to eat healthy and were told to follow their usual diets.
All the participants had had at least one precancerous polyp removed in the six months prior to the study, and therefore had a higher than normal risk of colorectal cancer.
After four years, researchers found the risk of developing another polyp was the virtually the same in both groups – Albawaba.com.
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