ABSTRACT
The principal fatal diseases of the stomach and bowel include acute diarrhea; cancers of the large bowel, stomach, esophagus, liver, and pancreas; peptic ulcer; and liver disease (hepatitis and cir rhosis). Food poisoning or infection is the major cause of fatal acute diarrhea, the most commonly found malady in the malnourished societies of developing countries. In the industrially developed countries, cancer is the principal cause of gut-related deaths, of which cancer of the large bowel (colon and rectum) has the highest cumulative incidence worldwide, followed by stomach can cer. The increase in large bowel cancer in Japan has been shown to be related to a transition from a traditional low-fat, high-starch diet to one containing more fat, meat, and sugar (1). Diet is implicated in the etiology of both large bowel and stomach cancer (see Chapter 25).
