healthful effects of dietary fiber: part 1 (preventing colon cancer)

African inland residents have fewer incidences of illness due to consuming a lot of dietary fiber compared with the population in developed countries. Consumption of dietary fiber in large quantities will provide the body's defense against the onset of various diseases such as colon cancer, diverticular disease, cardiovascular disease and obesity.

colon cancer. source: en.wikipedia.org

Colon cancer 
The relationship between dietary fiber with the onset of colon cancer has received great attention, especially in developed countries. Hypotheses about the relationship between dietary fiber intake by decreasing the incidence of onset of colon cancer can be tested from the following example. In the United States, consumption of meat, poultry and fish have increased rapidly, but instead the consumption of food rich in fiber such as potatoes and of whole cereals has declined drastically. Also turns out the consumption of whole cereals has declined sharply as that is consumed is the flour (which has been purified from the fiber).

Specific components of the diet may be a carcinogen, or intestinal microflora can react on food residues to the gut and turn it into a carcinogenic compound. These compounds when in contact with the cells of the colon mokusa over a period of time, will lead to the growth of cancer cells.

Many hypotheses put forward regarding the mechanism of dietary fiber in the prevention of colon cancer.

First, the possibility of dietary fiber can affect intestinal microflora such that no carcinogenic compounds formed.

Second, dietary fiber is able to bind water, thereby increasing the water content in the large intestine, which causes the concentration of carcinogenic compounds is low and no longer effective to kill cancer cells.

Third, dietary fiber can speed up the transit time of food residues in the colon, so that there is not enough time for carcinogenic compounds to make contact with the cells of the intestinal mucosa.