Ann Ist Super Sanita. 1996 ; 32(4): 573-93.

[Etiological epidemiology of colorectal tumors]

Cipriani F, Geddes M.

UnitÃ Operativa di Epidemiologia, Centro per lo Studio e la Prevenzione Oncologica, Firenze.

We reviewed the main results of colon cancer (CC) epidemiologic studies, according to data published in the 1973-1994 period, with a particular mention to dietary factors and to differences with Italian findings. Meat (mostly, red meat), animal fats and high energy intake not counterbalanced by sufficient physical activity seem to be the most consistent risk factors for CC. On the contrary, the vegetarian based diet seems to reduce the risk of CC. Although interestingly, the relevance to CC of other life-style and diet-related factors (alcohol intake, smoking habits, processing and cooking methods, occupation, drugs, personal medical and reproductive history) must be better defined and requests further investigations. More recently, genetic studies are clarifying the hereditary risk of CC. Several colon carcinogenesis hypotheses have been proposed, but general agreement on the most reliable is still lacking. Authors argue that in the next future, new acquirements could emerge from metabolic polymorphism studies, possibly reconciling the biological significance of individual susceptibility and environmental factors to CC incidence.