Colon Cancer

By Dr. Mercola

Colon cancer has been in the news as of late after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), concluded in late 2015 that processed meat can cause colorectal cancer in humans, classifying it as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Colorectal cancer, which includes both cancers of the colon and rectum, is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the U.S. (not including skin cancers). In 2016, it’s estimated there will be more than 95,000 new cases of colon cancer (and more than 39,000 cases of rectal cancer) diagnosed.¹

Your colon, also known as your large intestine, plays an incredibly important role in your health. As food passes through your colon, liquid and salt are removed to prepare it for elimination.

Aside from helping to form, store and eliminate waste, your colon contains billions of bacteria, a healthy balance of which is essential for optimal health.

Another alternative is to get tested by flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years. It’s similar to a colonoscopy but uses a shorter and smaller scope, so it cannot see as far up into your colon. On the upside, it’s associated with fewer complications. Ultrasounds have also proven to be of value. Overall, visual inspection is the most reliable way to check for colon cancer, and this is what a colonoscopy allows your doctor to do.

If polyps are found in their early stages, your doctor can simply snip them off right then and there. So a colonoscopy is not only a diagnostic tool, it can also serve as a surgical intervention. They take a picture of the polyp, clip it, capture it, and send it to biopsy. It could save your life, and it’s definitely something to consider. However, be aware that about one in every 350 colonoscopies does serious harm. The death rate is about one for every 1,000 procedures.

Further, about 80 percent of endoscopes are cleaned using Cidex (glutaraldehyde), which does NOT properly sterilize these tools, potentially allowing for the transfer of material that could easily lead to infection. Asking what solution is used to clean the scope is a key question that could save your life. Make sure it’s been sterilized with peracetic acid to avoid potential transfer of infectious material from previous patients.

15 More Simple Cancer Prevention Tips

Cancer doesn’t typically develop overnight, which means you have a chance to make changes that can potentially prevent cancer from developing in the first place. Most of us actually carry around microscopic cancer cell clusters in our bodies all the time.

The reason why we all don’t develop cancer is because as long as your body has the ability to balance angiogenesis properly, it will prevent blood vessels from forming to feed these microscopic tumors. Trouble will only arise if, and when, the cancer cells manage to get their own blood supply, at which point they can transform from harmless to deadly. There are many steps you can take to lower your risk, including those that follow:²¹

Sources and References

• HealthDay News March 8, 2016
• The New York Times January 15, 2015
• U.S. News & World Report March 4, 2014
• Reader’s Digest

• ¹ American Cancer Society, What are the key statistics about colorectal cancer?
• ² Pharm Res. 2008 Sep; 25(9): 2097–2116.
• ³ American Institute for Cancer Research, Estimating Preventability
• ⁴ The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition September 2012
• ⁵ Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health March 31, 2014
• ⁶ Mol Nutr Food Res. 2016 Feb 26.
• ⁷ CBS Houston September 29, 2015
• ⁸ Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Oct;102(4):881-90.
• ⁹ HealthDay News March 8, 2016
• ¹⁰ Nutr Cancer. 2005;53(1):117-25.
• ^11, 12 Gut January 15, 2015
• ¹³ American Institute for Cancer Research, Processed Meat Brochure (PDF)
• ¹⁴ Cancer Res March 15, 2010 70; 2406
• ¹⁵ J. Nutr. November 1, 2002 vol. 132 no. 11 3456S-3464S
• ¹⁶ Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: November 2003 – Volume 35 – Issue 11 – pp 1823-1827
• ¹⁷ Lancet August 14, 2014 [Epub ahead of print]
• ¹⁸ University of Maryland Medical Center, Garlic
• ^19, 20 Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Oct;72(4):1047-52.
• ²¹ Reader’s Digest
• ²² JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2014) 106 (10): dju341

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