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Dietary Fiber and Human Cancer: Critique of the Literature

  • Chapter
Essential Nutrients in Carcinogenesis

Abstract

The relationship between dietary fiber consumption and risk of gastrointestinal cancer in humans is examined using representative studies of several types: international and intranational correlations, case-control analyses, metabolic investigations, cohort studies, and migrant studies. The strongest statistical association between diet and cancer is found in international studies in which numerous environmental variables differ. Studies on smaller groups within a single culture have not given strong support to the findings of international comparisons. Colon cancer rates within regions of the U.S. and other countries vary with sufficient magnitude that diet is unlikely to account for more than a minor proportion of risk. The evidence that a diet containing fiber-rich foods reduces risk of colon cancer must be considered tentative. Foods high in starch and fiber are statistically associated with a high rate of stomach cancer. Examination of the combined rates of colon and gastric cancer shows that the U.S. risk is low relative to countries in which a diet higher in fiber is consumed. It would be premature to suggest that a high fiber diet will confer protection against gastrointestinal cancer.

Supported in part by grants 83B11C84B and 83B13C84B from the American Institute for Cancer Research, a Research Career Award (HL-00734) from the National Institutes of Health, and funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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Abbreviations

SDA:

Seventh-Day Adventist

CHD:

coronary heart disease

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 36th at Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, USA

    David M. Klurfeld & David Kritchevsky

Authors
  1. David M. Klurfeld
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  2. David Kritchevsky
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Comparative Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Frederick, Maryland, USA

    Lionel A. Poirier

  2. Department of Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Paul M. Newberne

  3. Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Michael W. Pariza

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Klurfeld, D.M., Kritchevsky, D. (1986). Dietary Fiber and Human Cancer: Critique of the Literature. In: Poirier, L.A., Newberne, P.M., Pariza, M.W. (eds) Essential Nutrients in Carcinogenesis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1835-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1835-4_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9025-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1835-4

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