Diet and colorectal cancer mortality: secular trends over 30 years in 15 European countries

Many western European countries have increased consumption of meat and fat conspicuously from 1961 to 1990 according to FAO ‘food disappearance’ data. These trends within countries compare well with intake data obtained by weighing and questionnaires. For three countries more meat and fat is combined with small changes in plant foods, but nevertheless standardized mortalities from colorectal cancer drop. For nine countries meat, fat and plant foods increase and mortalities drop. For two countries, there is moderately more meat, fat and plant foods increase, and in one there is drastically more meat and a high consumption of plant foods, associated with rising mortalities. Overall, there is no consistent pattern.