By David Liu, PHD

Saturday Nov 17, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- We all know that high intake of dietary fiber can prevent colorectal cancer. But a new study in Prostate Cancer suggests that having a high intake of dietarty fiber may also reduce risk of prostate cancer, which is diagnosed in more than 230,000 men in the United States.

Fred Tabung of Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina and colleagues conducted the study and found men who had highest intakes of total dietary fiber were up to 40 percent less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer.

For the study, researchers looked at data from participants in The North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project to exmaine the associations between intake of refined grains, whole grains and dietary fiber, and risk of aggressive prostate cancer in Afircan Americans and European Americans.

The researchers found an inverse assocition with aggressive prostate cancer in the 2nd and 3rd tertiles of total dietary fiber intake, compared to the lowest tertile of intake.  That is those in the 2nd tertile 3rd tertile were 30 percent and 39 percent less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer respectively, compared to those in the lowest tertile of intake.

Among European Americans, the risk was cut by 56 percent and among African Americans, the risk reduction was 43 percent.

The researchers concluded "Dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with aggressive prostate cancer among both AA (African American) and EA (European American) men."

Diebatry fiber is found in fruit and vegetables. Those who can't eat sufficient fruti/vegetables may consider taking fiber supplements, which are readily available over the Internet.