Bowel Cancer Information.

Bowel cancer affects mostly older people, with 90% of cases in the over 50's, but it will have started to slowly grow many years earlier, so young to middle age is the time to prevent it.

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Most bowel cancer is caused by the 'western diet'. There is 20 times less bowel cancer in China and Japan than there is in America, but if someone moves to America the family acquires the national level within a generation due to their change in diet.

Bowel cancer is increasing by about 1% a year but if caught early there is a good chance of survival, so seeing your doctor if there are any early signs is very important. Leaving things too late reduces the chance of survival.

The early signs of bowel cancer to look out for are -

Blood or mucus in the stools
Becoming constipated or getting diarrhoea, which does not go away
Losing weight without any explanation
Pain in the abdomen or bottom
Having to strain to pass a motion
Feeling a lump in the abdomen

Blood in the stools can be seen as fresh red blood on your toilet paper, or in the toilet. This indicates bleeding near to the end of your bowel. Bleeding higher up the bowel can be more difficult to see as the blood is mixed in with the faeces, and has had time to clot. This is why a chemical test is used for detection. This is called a faecal occult blood test (FOB Test), which you can also buy yourself.

Because early detection is important this is one of the Department of Health's targets, so there will be the first phase of a national screening campaign in England starting in April 2006, with men and women aged 60 to 69 invited to take part. Those eligible will be sent a home test kit and asked to scrape small sample of faeces onto the test card and send it back to the lab for testing. If you are over 70 years old you can ask for a test.

The lab will use a chemical test for blood in the sample, and let you know if this is positive, as this is one of the early signs of bowel cancer. If blood is found in the sample, then a second test is sent. About 2 out of every 100 people tested are expected to have both results show positive, and they will be asked to go for further tests. However it is estimated that only 1 in 20 people who go for further tests have bowel cancer, as most cases of blood being found in your stools are due to haemorrhoids (piles), or to other bowel problems such as diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis or Crohn's Disease, which can then be treated. Note that a negative result could happen when you do have bowel cancer, and it just isn't bleeding when the test is done, so you should not ignore the early signs just because your test is negative.

It is hoped to save 2,000 lives a year with this faecal occult blood screening test (FOB Test), by detecting bowel cancer earlier, and also raising awareness of it's existence, and the signs to look out for, so that more people will seek help earlier. However, earlier screening trials have only shown a reduction in mortality of 15%, not a lot to show for all this effort! So don't rely on this screening and think that all is well. Concentrate on the fact that 90% of bowel cancer is cause by poor diet, and this is completely under your control.

Other people at risk of developing bowel cancer are anyone suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's Disease. Around 5-10% of people who get bowel cancer have a family history of the disease, and it usually appears before the age of 45. These people should be especially aware of early signs of the disease, and use screening tests as recommended by their doctor.

Prevent bowel cancer by looking after your bowels. In simple terms eat food with a high fibre content, which stays in the bowel as bulk, and moves everything through more quickly. Highly refined and processed foods have less bulk and pass more slowly through the gut. The slower your food passes through you, the more chance there is for cancer forming chemicals to be produced, damaging small areas of the gut, which can become cancerous. Red meat and animal fat can produce chemicals that do this, so limit the amount of red meat and saturated fats you eat. Exercise regularly to keep the gut moving, and help your food go down. Being overweight puts extra pressure on the gut and slows your food down.

How to prevent bowel cancer -

Eat plenty of fibre
Exercise regularly
Lose excess weight
Eat less red meat & saturated fat
Look after your nutrition

Eat plenty of fibre. All fibre is good for the gut, as it moves things through quickly, but there are two types of fibre which act differently. Insoluble fibre (wheat bran and whole grains) is believed to absorb cancer causing chemicals produced in the gut, and decrease the risk of bowel cancer. Soluble fibre (fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses) form a thick gel which lubricates the bowel walls and feeds the healthy bacteria in the lower bowel. So make sure you get at least your five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.

Ensure a regular daily intake of green vegetables, particularly brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, sprouts or cauliflower). Recent studies have also shown that specific chemicals in vegetables, for example the isothiocyanates, which give brassicas their characteristic pungent taste, might be especially protective against cancer.

Exercise regularly. Studies have shown that the risk of bowel cancer can be reduced by as much as 50% in people who exercise regularly. This doesn't have to be anything too energetic, as walking, gardening, and anything that gets you just a little out of breath really helps. It is thought to affect hormone levels and increase your metabolic rate, and help the bowel to get rid of waste more quickly.

Loosing excess weight improves your life and your bowels, especially when combined with the healthy eating and exercise. Sounds familiar? This is just one of the reasons you should be doing it.

Eat less red meat & saturated fat and eat more fish. Ideally eat red meat no more than once a week,as they produce cancer causing chemicals while being digested, in particular, avoid burnt meat, such as barbeques, which already contains cancer-promoting chemicals called cyclic amines. Fish and white meat are much better.

Look after your nutrition. Some studies have shown the beneficial effects of taking multivitamin & mineral supplements, and vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, selenium and calcium have been singled out as being the most important.

Coping with Bowel Cancer

Coping with Bowel Cancer by Dr Tom Smith offers hope and sound advice to people with bowel cancer, carers, and those with a high risk of developing it