Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer that is not as familiar to people as some “high-profile” types of cancer. Actually, this is the third most common cancer – many people are diagnosed each year and even more people are living with this disease.
But, there is good news. It can be prevented! Up to 75% of these cases can be avoided. We have prepared five tips you can use as a guide to drastically lower your risk of getting colorectal cancer. It is your health we are talking about, and it is up to you to take control.
Get Screened
The best way to prevent and detect this disease is to get regular screening tests for colorectal cancer. This way, you will catch the disease early on, when it is most treatable. You can prevent it from spreading by looking for certain abnormalities called polyps, which can turn into cancer.
There are several ways to get screened for colorectal cancer. Some of them are easy, but need to be done often, and some are more complex, but you don’t need to do them often. So, which test you will take depends solely on your medical history and the doctor’s recommendation.
Many people get tested after they have turned 50, but if you have a history of this disease in your family, or some other important risk factors, you should begin testing at a younger age, and test yourself more often. Here are a couple of screening options to choose from:
- Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT)/Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) – every year
- Colonoscopy – every 10 years
- Flexible Sigmoidoscopy – every 5 years
- Virtual Colonoscopy – every 5 years
If you find something suspicious in your test, follow-up with a colonoscopy.
Quit Smoking
Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Smoking raises the risk of many serious diseases, including heart disease, emphysema and a stroke, and it is a major cause of many types of cancer, one of which is colorectal. If you are a smoker, quitting this dreadful habit will have many benefits.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Besides smoking, nothing else raises the risk of cancer more than an unhealthy diet. Over 10 different cancer types have been linked to obesity and weight gain and, again, one of them is colorectal cancer. It would be ideal to try and keep your body fat percentage within 10-20% if you are a man, and 16-30% if you are a woman.
So, if you have put on some weight, the first goal you need to achieve is to stop gaining more weight. You will feel much better and, in time, you will be able to start working out more frequently and lose some of that extra fat.
Get a Lot of Calcium and Vitamin D
There is a lot of valid evidence showing that taking enough calcium and vitamin D can help people protect themselves from colorectal cancer. Take about 1,000 to 1,200 mg of calcium every day and about 1,000 IU of vitamin D. You can even get yourself tested for vitamin D deficiency.
If you are overweight and/or have a darker skin tone, you should definitely get tested. However, if you spend a lot of time in sunny environments, you won't have any issues with this vitamin D deficiency.
Stay Physically Active
It is important to stay physically active. This lowers the risk of many serious diseases such as, you guessed it, colorectal cancer. Beside the numerous benefits, it also gives you a good psychological boost. Any amount of physical activity is better than doing nothing. You can easily set aside 30 minutes or more each day for a moderate workout regime. Choose something you enjoy, like cycling, swimming, fast walking, gardening or just dancing.
Even though colorectal cancer is preventable, there are a couple of important factors that you cannot have control over. Of course, if you feel that you are at risk, do not hesitate to go to a medical professional and learn more about this issue.
These are several risk factors that can increase the chances of getting colorectal cancer: age, family history of colorectal cancer, being really tall, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. Since you now have all this information, take the necessary steps to prevent and detect colorectal cancer on time, so that you can live a long and happy life.
