We know that people who have high-cholesterol diets or diets that are low in fiber tend to get colon cancer at an increased rate. Alternatively, people who eat a generally healthy, well-balanced diet get colon cancer at a decreased rate. There is a theory that diets high in carbohydrates might promote cancer cell growth. Although it might seem that starving cancer cells of glucose or sugar could prevent the cancer from growing, it does not. And in some ways, people on those types of diets do not do well because they are starving their bodies of important nutrients.