The word cancer frightens many of us, and colorectal cancer has the double-whammy of being both common and deadly. It’s the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of death from cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Approximately 4.5 percent of the population will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with a five-year survival rate of 65 percent.
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.
Genetics only account for 5 to 10 percent of colorectal cases (and family history up to 25 percent), which means you can tremendously reduce your risk through diet and lifestyle as well as herbs and supplements.
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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
- not smoking
- avoiding obesity
- controlling blood sugar
- limiting alcohol (below 3 drinking / 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
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 Roles of Fiber
- Keep stool soft and moving through.
- Improve blood sugar stability.
- Feeds and support healthy (and anti-cancer) gut flora.
- Improve the body’s ability to detoxify.
Reducing fat in the diet encourages more favorable gut flora and compounds like butyrate that discourage cancer formation.
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!
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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Herbs & 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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Probiotics & Prebiotics
Gut flora have a tremendous impact on colorectal health and cancer risk. Preliminary studies suggest that probiotics (healthy bacterial flora including Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium from supplements and lactic acid-forming fermented foods) and prebiotics (food for the good bacteria including fiber, mucilage, FOS, and inulin) improve gut health and motility, make the colon less hospitable to cancer cells, fight and prevent cancer cells and tumor formation, and reduce the damage from carcinogenic foods like grilled red meat, cured meat, and bacon.
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Medicinal Mushrooms
Mushrooms have long been used in Asia for cancer treatment and prevention. They contain complex polysaccharide starches called glucans as well as other beneficial compounds that improve immune system health to better fight and prevent cancer.
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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), and increased survival rate in colorectal cancer 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. 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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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
This potent anti-inflammatory spice and its constituents slow the promotion and progression of colon cancer and encourage cancer cell cycle arrest.
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
Five or more cups of green tea daily or 250 to 500 mg of the standardized extract daily provides antioxidants and can improve the immune system’s response to cancer, particularly in nonsmokers.
In colorectal cancer, EGCG in green tea inhibits cancer growth, induces cancer cell death, and inhibits the inflammation that fuels cancer. In one study, green tea supplementation reduced colorectal tumor incidence in post-surgery cancer patients by 50 percent.
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