The word cancer frightens many of us, and colorectal cancer has the double-whammy of being both common and deadly.
What is Colorectal Cancer?
Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the third leading cause of death from cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Common Questions
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How Common is Colorectal Cancer?
About 4 percent of the population will develop this form of cancer over the course of their lifetime.
Unfortunately, the colorectal cancer rates in the US are rising 1 to 2 percent annually in people under 55.
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How Deadly is Colorectal Cancer?
The five-year survival rate is 65 percent, but if caught in the earliest stages, the survival rate jumps to 90 percent.
To that end, the FDA recently approved a blood test that can screen for colorectal cancer. It's been approved for use in people with average risk who are ages 45 and older.
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Can Colorectal Cancer Be Prevented?
Genetics account for only 5 to 10 percent of colorectal cases (and family history up to 25 percent), which means prevention tactics can greatly reduce your risk and improve outcomes.
Prevention comes in two forms: healthy habits for prevention and screening to catch cancer early while it’s most treatable.
Ask your doctor if you’re eligible for a blood test or screening as well as the pros and cons of a colonoscopy versus at-home kits. Don’t put that off!
In the meantime, incorporate healthy habits and useful supplements into your routine.
How to Reduce Your Risk of Colorectal Cancer
There are two primary themes to remember when it comes to reducing colorectal cancer risk:
- Reducing inflammation and oxidative stress.
- Encouraging healthy gut function, including microbiota.
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Lifestyle
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Exercise
One of the best ways to reduce your risk of colon cancer is to exercise regularly, at least 30 minutes on most days. For optimal protection, researchers suggest 3.5 to 4 hours per week of vigorous activity.
Inactivity has a greater impact on colorectal cancer risk than genetics. While it may not seem connected, exercise improves gut motility, enhances the immune system, decreases inflammatory insulin and insulin-like growth factors, decreases obesity, and improves antioxidant status.
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Regular Screening
It’s also crucial to be screened and to remove polyps larger than the size of a pea, which are more likely to turn into cancer. Fortunately, they grow slowly over 10 to 20 years.
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Other Changes
Some of the best ways to prevent colorectal cancer are those that prevent and manage many other diseases, including other types of cancer.
- not smoking
- avoiding obesity
- controlling blood sugar
- limiting alcohol (below 3 drinks a day)
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Colon-Friendly Diet
One of the primary reasons colorectal cancer is so common in the United States is the standard American diet. Studies link colorectal cancer risk to excessive red meat, fat, protein, and calories.
A whole-foods diet emphasizing vegetables, fiber, fatty fish like salmon and halibut, plant protein, and good hydration significantly protects you because it:
- feeds healthy gut flora
- encourages healthy elimination
- decreases inflammation
- decreases oxidation
- balances blood sugar
- nourishes the body
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Embrace Fiber
One meta-analysis found that people who consumed more than 27 grams of fiber daily had 50 percent less chance of developing colorectal cancer compared to people who consumed less than 11 grams of fiber daily.
Eat five or more servings daily of vegetables and fruit. Include naturally high-fiber foods such as nuts, seeds, whole grains (especially oatmeal), beans, legumes, apples, and pears.
Ground flax, psyllium, chia, hemp seeds, bran, and other fiber supplements can be helpful, but food sources are best.
The Role of Fiber
- Keeps stool soft and moving through
- Improves blood sugar stability
- Feeds and support healthy (and anti-cancer) gut flora
- Improves the body’s ability to detoxify
Fiber and Your Gut Flora
Microbiota (gut flora) love chewing on fiber. If you don’t consume enough fiber, they turn to an alternate food source – your protective mucin gut lining!
Fiber and Flatulence
Incorporating more fiber into the diet can make you uncomfortably gassy.
Try a slow introduction to give your gut flora a chance to adjust. If you haven’t adapted after a few months, ask your doctor to test you for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
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Reduced Fat Intake
Reducing fat in the diet encourages more favorable gut flora and compounds like butyrate that discourage cancer formation.
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Additional Nutrients
While fiber in the diet is the most important, additional support may be found from:
- prebiotic inulin
- other complex polysaccharides
- mucilaginous herbs (like marshmallow and aloe inner gel)
- probiotics such as Bifidobacterium longum
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Probiotics & Prebiotics
Gut flora have a tremendous impact on colorectal health and cancer risk.
Probiotics are healthy bacterial flora, including Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium, found in supplements and lactic acid-forming fermented foods.
Probiotics are food for the good bacteria, including fiber, mucilage, FOS, and inulin.
Preliminary studies suggest that probiotics and prebiotics can:
- improve gut health and motility
- make the colon less hospitable to cancer cells
- fight and prevent cancer cells and tumor formation
- reduce the damage from carcinogenic foods like:
- grilled red meat
- cured meats
- bacon
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Medicinal Mushrooms
Mushrooms have long been used in Asia for cancer treatment and prevention.
They contain complex polysaccharide starches, including glucans and beta glucan (and other beneficial compounds) that improve immune system health to better fight and prevent various types of cancer.
In modern Asia, mushroom polysaccharide extracts are often prescribed as adjunct cancer treatments to improve outcomes.
To make the polysaccharides bioavailable, medicinal mushrooms should be cooked, heated, or simmered in water, even better if powdered first, or try extract capsules.
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Turkey Tail
The most human studies have been performed on turkey tail mushrooms, usually as an adjunct in cancer treatment to improve outcome and remission rates.
In these studies, turkey tail extract:
- kept colorectal cancer progression in check
- decreased the voracity of cancer’s progression (how deep it went, how far it spread)
- increased survival rate in patients also receiving conventional care
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Reishi and Shiitake
A handful of studies show that reishi and shiitake extracts also inhibit colorectal cancer.
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Nutritional Supplements
While fiber in the diet is the most important, additional support may be found from prebiotic inulin, other complex polysaccharides, mucilaginous herbs like marshmallow and aloe inner gel, and probiotics such as Bifidobacterium longum.
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Calcium and Vitamin D
In population studies, the better the intake of these nutrients, the lower the risk. Although not all studies agree, some note a reduced risk on par with exercise: 10 to 15 percent.
In a four-year, well-designed study, the combination of 1,400-1,500 milligrams (mg) calcium citrate or carbonate and 1,000 IU vitamin D3 together reduced cancer risk for healthy postmenopausal women.
Other studies have found that vitamin D supplementation reduces risk by 50 percent.
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids
People who consume more omega-3 fatty acids from wild, coldwater fatty fish have a reduced risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers.
Taking 2.5 grams of fish oil daily reduces cancer’s growth rate.
Higher doses of fish oil (4.1 grams EPA, 3.6 grams DHA daily) for 12 weeks rapidly reduced cancer markers in colon polyps in a small group of high-risk cancer patients.
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Turmeric
Turmeric powder in the diet or supplements may help prevent or fight various types of cancer including colon cancer through immune system support, deceased inflammation, and increased antioxidants.
This potent anti-inflammatory spice and its constituents slow the promotion and progression of colon cancer and encourage cancer cell cycle arrest.
Clinical Studies
Cancer patients who consumed turmeric powder (as well as garlic, onion, tomato, shiitake, rice bran, kale, blueberry, and pineapple) in addition to their regular diet improved antioxidant status and other clinical measures of improved treatment outcomes versus those who did not.
One study suggested a dose of 3.6 grams of curcumin for colon care.
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Green Tea
Drinking five or more cups of green tea (or taking 250 to 500 mg of the standardized extract) daily may be helpful.
Green tea provides antioxidants and can improve the immune system’s response to cancer, particularly in nonsmokers.
Thanks to the EGCG antioxidant in green tea, it can:
- inhibit cancer growth
- induce cancer cell death
- inhibit the inflammation that fuels cancer
Clinical Studies
In one study, green tea supplementation reduced colorectal tumor incidence in post-surgery cancer patients by 50 percent.
In another large study of nonsmoking men, each daily 2 gram intake of dry green tea leaves (about the amount in one tea bag) was associated with a 12 percent reduction in colorectal cancer risk.
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