Dietary fibre intake may lessen bowel-related symptoms in CRC survivors

For survivors of colorectal cancer (CRC), consuming more fibre in their daily diet helps reduce bowel-related symptoms, according to a study.

Researchers used data from the Colorectal Cancer: Longitudinal, Observational Study on Nutritional and Lifestyle Factors (COLON) study. They looked at 1,751 CRC survivors (median age at diagnosis 66 years, 63.7 percent male) who had had a stage I-IV disease and underwent surgery.

Habitual dietary fibre intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire at 6 months, 2 years, and 5 years after CRC diagnosis. Prevalence of bowel-related symptoms such as diarrhoea, constipation, flatulence or bloating, frequent stools, mucus in stools, or false urgency was self-reported and evaluated at 6 months, 2 years, and 5 years after diagnosis.

Bowel-related symptoms were present in 46.7 percent of participants at 6 months, 40.6 percent at 2 years, and 35.7 percent at 5 years after diagnosis. Symptoms at 6 months after diagnosis were prevalent among survivors who had received chemotherapy (58.3 percent), whereas symptoms at 2 and 5 years were more common among those who had received radiotherapy (2 years: 53.8 percent; 5 years: 51.1 percent).

Of the bowel-related symptoms examined, diarrhoea was associated with the lowest health-related quality of life (HRQOL) score (B, −9.6, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −14.0 to −5.2) at 5 years after diagnosis. Meanwhile, multivariable logistic regression models showed that higher dietary fibre intake (per 10-g/d increment) was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea at 6 months (odds ratio [OR], 0.44, 95 percent CI, 0.28–0.70) and 2 years (OR, 0.53, 95 percent CI, 0.30–0.94) after diagnosis. The association was not significant at 5 years.

The findings point to the potential of diet in management of bowel-related symptoms in CRC survivors.