Abstract
Colon cancer is prevalent in North America and Western Europe, but has a low incidence in Japan1,2. Epidemiology suggests that a high intake of animal fat3,4 and protein5,6, especially beef7,8, is associated with colon carcinogenesis. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to account for the relationship between these diets9–13, but experimental support for them is unconvincing. The specific carcinogen involved in cancer of the large bowel remains to be identified experimentally. Bruce and co-workers14 showed that several volatile nitrosamines were present in normal human faeces and suggested that these were produced endogenously in the lower intestine but they subsequently negated this hypothesis15. We demonstrate here that the levels of volatile nitrosamines in human faeces are markedly increased in Japanese individuals given a Western-style diet, but decreased by a typical Japanese diet.
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Suzuki, K., Mitsuoka, T. Increase in faecal nitrosamines in Japanese individuals given a Western diet. Nature 294, 453–456 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294453a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/294453a0
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