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Are Fiber Supplements Enough to Prevent Colon Cancer?
Don't Buy Into the Myth That Fiber Supplements Alone Prevent Colon Cancer

By , About.com Guide

Updated: August 13, 2009

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

Don't buy into the myth that fiber supplements will protect you from colon cancer.

True or False: Fiber Supplements Prevent Colon Cancer.

Taking fiber supplements is fine, especially if it helps prevent constipation by keeping your bowel movements regular. However, a fiber supplement doesn’t give you a free pass to eat anything you want. Much of the research points to the benefit of a whole-foods, healthy diet as the best way to reduce colon cancer risk. No one nutrient appears to be most important for reducing colon cancer risk. Instead, it is the combination of the thousands of healthy nutrients found in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds, working together, that appear to best protect against this disease.

Sources

Alberts DS, Martínez ME, Roe DJ, Guillén-Rodríguez JM, Marshall JR, van Leeuwen JB, Reid ME, Ritenbaugh C, Vargas PA, Bhattacharyya AB, Earnest DL, Sampliner RE. Lack of effect of a high-fiber cereal supplement on the recurrence of colorectal adenomas. Phoenix Colon Cancer Prevention Physicians' Network. N Engl J Med 2000 342:1156-62.

American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2007. Accessed: January 25, 2009.
http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2007PWSecured.pdf

Kim YS, Young MR, Bobe G,Colburn NH, Milner JA. Bioactive Food Components, Inflammatory Targets, and Cancer Prevention. Cancer Prevention Research 2009 2:200-208.

Kwak EL, Chung DC. Hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes: an overview. Clin Colorectal Cancer 2007 6:340-44.

National Human Genome Research Institute. Learning About Colon Cancer. Accessed: January 25, 2009.
http://www.genome.gov/10000466

Newton RU, Galvão DA. Exercise in prevention and management of cancer. Curr Treat Options Oncol 2008 9:135-46.

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