Unhealthy Diet Prompts Colon Cancer

Many studies have revealed links between sporadic colorectal cancer and individual foods, such as red and processed meats, and some prospective studies have identified an association between these malignancies and the typical Western diet.  Lynch syndrome is a genetic disorder in which multiple colorectal cancers develop early in life, and is associated with mutations in several genes responsible for mismatch repair of DNA. Ellen Kampman, from Wageningen University (The Netherlands), and colleagues studied a large cohort of adults with Lynch syndrome, finding that those subjects whose diets featured a major snack component — chips, fast food, and sweets — had an increased risk of developing colorectal adenomas. Conversely, the team also found that those whose diet was considered “prudent,” featuring a high percentage of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and fish, tended to have modest, though nonsignificant, decrease in risk.  Writing that: “These findings suggest that dietary patterns may be associated with development of colorectal adenoma in patients with Lynch syndrome,” the study authors report that: “The directions of these findings are corroborative with those observed in studies investigating sporadic colorectal cancer.”