A new study at Harvard University published yesterday has found that a fibre-rich diet does not protect against colon or rectal cancer in women, challenging the findings of previous reports. The 16-year study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found no association between eating dietary fibre and the risk of colorectal cancer.
The anti-cancer virtues of vegetable fibres was first suggested in the 1970s by researchers who noticed the very low incidence of colorectal cancers in Africans who ate a diet high in fibre.