Cancer of the colon and rectum is less common in the Mediterranean region than in other Western countries. The Mediterranean diet contains little...

Cancer of the colon and rectum is less common in the Mediterranean region than in other Western countries. The Mediterranean diet contains little animal fat and lots of olive oil. Italian researchers compared 1953 patients with colon or rectal cancer with a control group of 4154 patients admitted to the same hospitals for unrelated reasons. They estimated consumption of various foods from a detailed interview, then divided the patients into three groups according to their consumption of olive oil. Here are