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Colon cancer will afflict about 5% Americans with close to 97,000 new cases diagnosed each year in this country. It is anticipated that there will be approximately 50,000 deaths attributed to colon cancer this year. These statistics clearly point to the significance of understanding risk factors that can be modified with hopes of decreasing a person’s chance of developing this disease.
According to the American Cancer Society, significant risk factors for colon cancer include inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. In addition, a family history of colon cancer increases risk as does a history of having colonic polyps.
Type 2 diabetes is another important risk factor. And this supports the argument in favor of a diet that is substantially reduced in carbohydrates and sugars. In fact, what I discuss in this video is research that shows that contrary to popular belief, there is no benefit whatsoever in favoring the popular “low fat diet” if you’re looking at colon cancer risk. There is actually a slight increased risk for colon cancer associated with a low fat program as revealed in this study.
Colon cancer is more common in overweight individuals and the key to weight loss, according to the New England Journal of Medicine is to eat more fat and less carbs.
Finally, keep in mind that other lifestyle factors that you can change are related to risk and include physical inactivity, heavy alcohol use, and smoking.
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