Dietary fibre, transit-time, faecal bacteria, steroids, and colon cancer in two Scandinavian populations. Report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer Intestinal Microecology Group.

A comparison of dietary intake and faecal characteristics in population samples from two areas of Denmark and Finland with 4-fold variation in colon-cancer incidence suggests that the aetiology of colon cancer may be multifactorial and is not associated in a simple manner with dietary fat, neutral steroids, acid steroids, or their bacterial metabolites. However, meat consumption was greater in the high-incidence areas. Higher intakes of dietary fibre and milk in the low-incidence area suggest a possible protective effect, unrelated to mouth-anus transit-time. Further careful dietary and metabolic studies are needed to clarify the relationships between possible carcinogenic and protective effects of diet.