Dietary fibre consumption and its association with large bowel cancer in man

The hypothesis that lack of fibre in the diet is responsible for a variety of large bowel problems, including cancer, has stimulated much discussion and research over the past 15 years. However, the epidemiological examination of this hypothesis has been hampered by the absence of data on the fibre content of most of the world's foods. In studies in Britain and Scandinavia where consumption of the chemical fraction of dietary fibre, the non-starch polysaccharides, has been determined using accurate methods, significant negative association between colon cancer occurrence and NSP consumption have been shown. Fibre may therefore be protective to populations otherwise assumed to be at risk from a westernised type of diet. At present, methodological problems preclude the use of case-control studies in confirming or refuting these associations.