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Vegetarians less likely to have bowel cancer
Bowel cancer is the second most frequent type of cancer in women, and the third most frequent type of cancer in men. Doctors have long been pointing out that there is a connection between food and the risk of bowel cancer. A new study, which appeared in the journal 'JAMA Internal Medicine', confirms this: with the roughly 77,000 participants in the study from the US and Canada, in the group of vegetarians there were 22 percent fewer cases of bowel cancer than with the non-vegetarians over a period of 7.5 years.
"With the vegetarians, several effects play a role," says bowel cancer specialist Irene Kührer of MedUni Vienna: many pigments (secondary plant components) in fruit and vegetables have - in conjunction with vitamins - an anti-inflammatory and cancer-protective effect. In addition, the role of dietary fibres is different than had been suspected: "Dietary fibres accelerate the transport of food particles through the large intestine - but that doesn't protect against bowel cancer, as had long been suspected." The dietary fibres protect through a different effect: "They are food for the healthy gut bacteria. When these are reinforced, this limits infections, decreasing the risk of cancer."
