Gut Microbiome and Gastrointestinal Cancer (Wolters Kluwer Health)

The belief that fecal matter contains harmful poisons is very old, Greek historian Herodotus reported that the ancient Egyptians used enemas 3 d/mo along the lunar cycle because they were “convinced that all the diseases incident to man have their origin in the food that he takes.” The association of bacteria and cancer has long been discussed by the scientists. Louis Pasteur was the first to suggest that the composition of microflora within an individual could affect their overall health. Scottish pathologist William Russell reported circumstantial evidence for a bacterial cause of cancer as early as 1890.