[Dietary fiber intake and diverticular disease of the colon--a case control study].

To see the role of dietary fiber (DF) in the pathogenesis of diverticular disease of the colon, we conducted a case control study at two urban (T and W) and one rural (J) hospitals. Fiftyone subjects with colonic diverticulosis (aged 62.3±8.8 years) were compared with 64 control subjects (60.5±7.4 years), regarding daily consumption of nutrients.The study group consumed significantly less DF than the control group (14.0±4.0g/day, 16.4±5.6g/day respectively, p<0.05) at the urban hospitals. The same tendency was also noted at the rural hospital, but there was no statistically significant difference. The difference in DF intake between study and control groups was derived mainly from DF in vegetables.Our findings support the hypothesis that DF acts as a protective factor in the formation of colonic diverticulosis.