A new study from an international team of experts has published incredible evidence of just how quickly a typical Western diet can damage the gut and increase the risk of developing colon cancer. The study involved asking 20 African American volunteers and 20 native South Africans to swap what they ate for two weeks under tightly controlled conditions. All the volunteers were carefully monitored throughout the trial. Results showed that at the start of the trial, almost half of the American group had potentially pre-cancerous polpys (abnormal growths) in the bowel lining whereas none of the Africans had any. They also had higher levels of inflammation. However, after the diet swap, the gut health of the Americans had significantly improved with less inflammation and reduced biomarkers of cancer risk. The Africans meanwhile had increased cancer risk in all their measurements. The team concluded that the Western low fibre diet clearly seems to result in signs of increased cancer risk and stated given the improvements in only two weeks in the American volunteers, it is “never too late to change your risk of colon cancer”.