Colon cancer incidence

As noted above, geographical and temporal differences in the incidence of colon cancer are well established (see also Table 3). This has led to the suggestion that diet may play a key role, with low colon cancer incidences being linked with vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diets. "... 

Hardman, W.E. Cameron, I.L. (1995) Site specific reduction of colon cancer incidence, without a concomitant reduction in cryptal cell proliferation, in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine treated rats by diets containing 10% pectin with 5% or 20% com oil. Carcinogenesis, 16, 1425-1431... 

Hardman, W.E., Cameron, I.L., Heitman, D.W. Contreras, E. (1991) Demonstration of the need for end point validation of putative biomarkers failure of aberrant crypt foci to predict colon cancer incidence. Cancer Res., 51, 6388-6392... 

Schwartz, B., Birk, Y., Raz, A. and Madar, Z. (2004) Nutritional-pharmacological combinations-a novel approach to reducing colon cancer incidence. Eur J Nutr 43, 221-229. 

Wynder and Shigematsu (15) were the first to suggest that nutritional factors in general and specifically differences in fat intake may be responsible for the international variation in colon cancer incidence. Subsequent descriptive epidemiologic studies have found a strong positive association between colon cancer mortality or incidence in different countries and per capita availability in national diets of total fat (4,16) and of animal fat, estimated from food balance sheets. Such international correlations may be supportive of a hypothesis, but they should be interpreted with caution because the dietary data were based not on actual intake information but on food disappearance data. 

The incidence of colon cancer is high in western populations except for Japan and low in most developing nations. The high incidence is associated with high dietary fat. Low fiber intake has also been associated with the high colon cancer incidence in some populations. 

Epidemiological studies show that dietary fat and protein are most frequently correlated with colon cancer incidence in man (10-14). A number of studies in laboratory animals suggest that dietary fat enhances colon tumor incidence (15) although others have failed to show such enhancement (16). Summarized in this communication are animal experiments conducted by our laboratory to examine the effects of dietary protein on DMH induced carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and toxicity. 

Example L Kono (2004) conducted an ecological study in Japan that compared consumption of selected nutrients with annual colon cancer incidence and mortality across time. Annual per capita consumption data of selected nutrients and foods was obtained from nationwide surveys, which were conducted from 1950 to 2000 and contained data from randomly selected houses across the nation. The food group identified as meat contained poultry and fish. Consumption of red meat was not available for the early years. Annual age-adjusted rates of cancer incidence (from cancer registries) were available for the period 1975 to 1997, and age-adjusted mortality rates were available for the period 1950 and 2000. Means of height and... 

Kono, S. Secular trend of colon cancer incidence and mortality in relation to fat and meat intake in Japan. Eur. J. Cancer. Prev. 13(2), 127-132, 2004. 

DR has been shown to delay onset of a number of other spontaneous tumors in rodents. This includes hepatoms, breast tumors, pancreatic islet cell tumors, renal tumors, mammary gland cancers, pituitary tumors, and pheochromocytomas. Decrease in spontaneous appearance of preneoplastic foci in the liver was observed in the SPF Wistar rats. Similarly, marked reduction in spontaneous hepatoma was observed in B6C3F1 mice diet restricted for 12 months. In rodents, DR has been shown to decrease colon cancer incidence. Recently it has been shown that DR prevents spontaneous sarcomas and lymphomas in p53 mice, which are genetically susceptible to a number of neoplasms. The decrease in tumor incidence is linked to the increase in life expectancy of DR animals, especially rodents, where the incidence of spontaneous tumors is the leading cause of death in rodents. 

Garland CF, Garland EC and Gorham ED (1991) Can colon cancer incidence and death rates be reduced with calcium and vitamin D Am J Clin Nutr 54 193-201. 

Semmens, E.O., Kopecky, K.J., Grant, E., et al., 2013. Relationship between anthropometric factors, radiation exposure, and colon cancer incidence in the life span study cohort of atomic bomb survivors. Cancer Causes Control 24 (1), 27-37. 

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