creating a word doc from Matlab - very slow when using large tables!

Hi, I'm creating and populating a word document in the manner described here:

http://matlab.cheme.cmu.edu/2011/10/22/create-a-word-document-from-matlab/

The document isn't the most complicated ever, but has a huge number of tables and pictures within the text.

Everything works well - the document is created perfectly - but when I have large tables the document takes a very long time to create. Even when word is invisible.

My table writing code is horribly iterative - looping through the rows and columns of an array and writing the values using

MATLAB code
set(selection, 'Text', char(valueText));
selection.MoveRight(12, 1);

Is there any faster way to do this please? Not only do I need to set the table text but also each cell's text and background colors depending on their value.

Thanks for any help,

Tom.