Dietary items found for healthy colon

Eating fruits and vegetables, and drinking tea and red wine may offer overweight men and normal weight women some protection from colon and rectal cancers. Plant-based foods contain flavonoids, compounds thought to interfere with cancer-causing processes, the study team notes in the International Journal of Cancer.

120,852 men and women, 55 to 69 years old, filled out dietary surveys as part of a large designed to assess ties between diet and cancer. Over about 13 years, 1,444 men and 1,041 women developed colon or rectal cancer. Compared with the least intake, the greatest intake of catechins -- common in berries, grapes, black chocolate, tea, red wine, and some beans -- seemed to be associated with lower colorectal cancer risk among both overweight men and normal weight women. The researchers observed a similar trend for flavonols -- found in onions, kale, apples, pears, tea, wine, and fruit juices -- in normal weight women.