Digestive, particularly deadly cancers are easily preventable through diet

Cancers of the digestive tract are a major cause of cancer death, but according to a study published in a special issue of the journal "Mutation Research", they are also the easiest to prevent, by changes in eating habits
Of the 10 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2000, about 2.3 million earned the digestive organs - pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colon or rectum. Several studies have shown that these cancers were not purely genetic, but can be modulated by diet.

The walls of the gastrointestinal tract are coated with a layer of cells, forming the epithelium itself covered with mucus. The epithelium is the first to come into contact with food, bacteria and all that is ingested. It is normally renewed rapidly dividing stem cells, which can also give rise to polyps. Usually benign, they can sometimes form a malignant tumor.

More and more researchers believe that certain food components with fiber, folate, polyunsaturated fatty acids, glucosinolates or flanovoïdes or products of the digestive fermentation such as butyrate may exert a preventive effect at various stages of cancer formation.

For Professor Ian Johnson, Institute of Food Research in the UK, "the adverse effects of the diet are due to energy consumption coupled with inadequate decision-protective substances such as micronutrients, dietary fiber or a variety of plant chemicals ".

"Cancer is a complex multistep process that can take years to develop. Nutrition is a powerful tool that can stop a lot of steps in this process and could be used more effectively by many people," said- he says.

According to him, "colorectal cancer is clearly a disease of affluence and about 80% of cases are attributable in some way to food. Numerous mechanisms remain to be discovered, but for now and already, it means that people can participate in their own protection by controlling their weight and adopting a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and other sources of fiber. "