Getting your fill of fibre cuts cancer risk, say scientists

Britons and the French get it from vegetables, the Dutch and Germans from cereals, and fruit provides it for Italians and Spaniards. But wherever it comes from, fibre reduces bowel cancer risk, scientists say.

A large-scale study of European eating habits and United States research into diet and early signs of bowel cancer show consuming foods rich in fibre cuts the risk of developing the disease, which affects more than 940,000 people worldwide each year.

The findings contradict earlier research that suggested fibre did not protect against bowel cancer, but the scientists said people surveyed in previous studies were probably not eating enough fibre to show an effect on disease risk.

"People in the top 20 per cent who had the biggest reduction were eating far more fibre than in other studies which have not shown a relationship," said Professor Sheila Bingham, who conducted the European study.

Professor Bingham, head of the diet and cancer group at the British Medical Research Council's Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, said the research, involving more than half a million people in 10 European countries, was the biggest study done on diet and cancer.

It suggested that if people who ate less than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day doubled their intake of fibre, the risk of bowel cancer could be slashed 40 per cent.

"You want loads of fruits and vegetables on your plate and wholemeal pasta, and less fats and less meat," said Professor Bingham.

US researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, found similar results in their study of nearly 3600 people with non-malignant colon adenoma polyps, which can be precursors of bowel cancer, and nearly 34,000 other people.

"In our study, high intakes of dietary fibre, especially from grains, cereals and fruits, were associated with lower risk of colon adenoma," said Ulrike Peters, of the institute.

Cancers of the bowel and rectum are rare in developing countries but kill more than 490,000 people in industrialised nations each year, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, based in Lyon, France.

The European study showed different sources of fibre among people in the 10 countries, but the researchers said it did not seem to matter where it came from.

People with the lowest risk were eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day plus the equivalent of five slices of wholemeal bread.

Said Professor Bingham: "The more the better is the answer."

- REUTERS

Fibre beats cancer

A large European study confirms that eating fibre reduces the risk of bowel cancer.

Researchers suggest eating more fruit, vegetables and wholemeal bread and eating less fat and meat.