Staying young at heart requires more than regular exercise or a diet high in fiber. Staying healthy also requires consuming adequate amounts of all essential nutrients and getting yearly maintenance checkups, including checking on your colon’s health.
Colorectal cancer, often referred to as CRC, is one of the most common cancers in the world and is deadly if not found before it spreads outside the lower intestine. Historically the median age for CRC was 66. But diagnoses of CRC in people younger than 55 are currently on the rise.
Males have a greater occurrence of CRC than females. In the United States, African Americans have the highest rate; however, genetics accounts for only 15% of CRCs. Typical risk factors include poor diets, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, tobacco use, excessive alcohol and possibly chronic mild dehydration. Additionally, inflammation of the gut increases CRC risk.
CRC can take nearly a decade to develop from abnormal colon cells to cancer cells. It’s common for people not to have symptoms until the cancer has spread beyond the intestinal tract. Therefore, taking measures for early detection is a proactive step toward staying healthy.
There are three types of checkups, each with different levels of invasiveness and diagnostic accuracy. The colonoscopy is the gold standard and the most invasive checkup. During the procedure, a flexible tube with a lighted camera is inserted into your lower intestine. If polyps are discovered, they can be removed. Polyp samples, as well as any suspicious tissue, are then biopsied for signs of cancer.
Starting at age 45, low-risk individuals can use noninvasive methods to check their colorectal health. A convenient home stool test and the newly approved Shield blood test are minimally invasive and analyze CRC-associated biomarkers. Cologuard provides the most accurate stool evaluation. However, this test can misdiagnose CRC at the early stages of cancer, as does the Shield blood test. Both tests can also provide false positives that require a colonoscopy to be verified.
Symptoms that should trigger a colon evaluation are unexplained changes in bowel habits, including diarrhea, constipation and dark or bloody stools. If you have hemorrhoids, don’t assume that is always the cause of the blood. Other symptoms that should be medically evaluated are chronic abdominal pain or bloating, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, paleness or iron deficiency.
Regarding foods to lower CRC risk, worldwide studies indicate that vegetables, whole grains and other high fiber foods can be protective; however, the results on risks related to meat intake are inconsistent. Consuming a wide variety of foods from all food groups and taking a low-level multivitamin-mineral supplement can provide the essential nutrients needed for a healthy intestine and immune system.
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Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. and Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S. are retired nutrition faculty from the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
