Does Scientific Data Support the Idea that Diet Can Affect Colon Cancer Risk?
For centuries, it has been suspected that diet influences cancer development. This is particularly true for colon cancer. Among the first modern evidence for this came from studies of Japanese citizens who emigrated to the US earlier this century. Investigators observed that Japanese natives developed colon cancer less often than US citizens did. However, after living in the US for many years, these migrants developed colon cancer at rates similar to other US citizens. This change was likely due to abandoning the traditional low fat Japanese diet and adopting a colon cancer-promoting Western diet. Other studies suggest a connection between colon cancer and the amount of meat and fat a person consumes. The amount of meat and fat eaten was compared in different countries worldwide; the more meat and fat was consumed in a certain country, the more colon cancer would be observed there. Denis Burkitt, a famous British surgeon working in Africa as a medical missionary, made the keen observat
