Colorectal cancer prevention: can a good diet help?

I attended the ‘Colorectal Cancer: Prevent It. Treat It. Beat It’ seminar organized by Channel News Asia and Singapore General Hospital last Saturday. One of the topics discussed during the seminar was colorectal cancer prevention.

‘Colorectal’ refers to the colon and rectum that make up the large intestine - the last part of the digestive system which change food into energy and help pass waste out of the body.

Food is digested in the stomach and the small intestine. As nutrients are removed from food, it changes into a watery mass. The watery mass passes through the small intestine into the colon.

The colon absorbs the water and the semi-solid waste continues to travel to the rectum. This waste material is known as feces or stool. The stool is stored in the rectum and through bowel movement, leaves the body through the anus.

While there are treatments for colorectal cancer like surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, there’s a good chance that colorectal cancer can be prevented through having a proper diet with three meals a day…

This makes another motivation that we must fight obesity at all costs!

Weight loss should not be embraced for just cosmetic reasons but really should be taken seriously by everybody for health reasons. Given a choice, I don’t believe that anyone wants to be unhealthy and staying in good shape is a great way to be.

Here’s what I found at Wikipedia regarding colorectal cancer prevention and a good diet:

“The comparison of colorectal cancer incidence in various countries strongly suggests that sedentarity, overeating (i.e., high caloric intake), and perhaps a diet high in meat (red or processed) could increase the risk of colorectal cancer. In contrast, a healthy body weight, physical fitness, and good nutrition decreases cancer risk in general. Accordingly, lifestyle changes could decrease the risk of colorectal cancer as much as 60-80%.”

So, let’s eat healthily to minimize our risks of colorectal cancer and many other diseases like stroke, hypertension, etc.