- O H Holmqvist: Swedish Meat Research Institute, Kävlinge, Sweden. olle.holmqvist@ki.scan.se
Epidemiological findings on the relation between foods and colon cancer are inconsistent. Many, but far from all, found positive associations for meat and fat and negative ones for vegetables and fruits. Explanations so far have focused on direct biochemical conversions in the colon or transit time, but they remain unable to explain the contradictory observations. One aspect grossly ignored has been bacterially produced heat which is beyond somatic control. A present day affluent lifestyle includes a more sedentary life, the strongest of all risk factors for colon cancer, with more sitting and less diffusion of bacterial heat, more fat and sugar, rich in energy and less of energy poor foods like cereals. A temperature higher by less than 1 degrees C in the colon over decades may promote tumour growth to a distinguishable extent.