COLON CANCER. PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Preventive measures are the measures taken to prevent colon cancer. There are two types of measures: primary and secondary.

The primary preventive measure consists of modifying our lifestyle and the second consists of detecting the illness in its early stages through a simple faecal occult blood test.

PRIMARY PREVENTIVE MEASURE. CHANGING LIFESTYLE.

1. Diet.

• Have a diet rich in fibre, fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts.
• Ensure that we reduce the ingestion of meats that are red, processed, cured or rich in saturated fats such as sausages, cold meats, etc.
• However, no link has been found between the ingestion of white meats (turkey, chicken) and colon cancer.
• Decrease the ingestion of meats that are fried or cooked directly in fire as much as possible.

2. Maintaining a healthy weight.

This measure is more pertinent for men due to the higher risk that they have of accumulating fat within their waistline, which is in turn, the most dangerous type of fat there is.

3. Stop smoking.

4. Stop or decrease the ingestion of alcohol.

5. Complete physical exercise.

Walking at a fast pace for a minimum of thirty minutes per day.

Changing lifestyle is very important because it not only helps to prevent the emergence of colon cancer, but also helps to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from it and additionally, helps to decrease the recurrence of treated cancer.

SECONDARY PREVENTIVE MEASURE. FAECAL OCULT BLOOD TEST.

The faecal occult blood test is one of the most important tests used to detect colon cancer in its early stages in healthy people without symptoms. This test is conducted by simply taking a faecal sample to find occult blood within them.

It is recommended that this test be conducted in people around the age of fifty. This test will be conducted in ages younger than fifty, in people that have colon pathologies, familial polyposis or a family history of colon cancer (parents, brothers, sisters, etc.).

A colonoscopy will be conducted if the result of the test comes back positive and if the result comes back negative, then the test will be repeated a year or two later.

WARNING

People that present inflammatory colon diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, will need to undertake frequent colonoscopies due to them presenting a higher risk of developing colon cancer. People with irritable colon have the same risk of suffering from colon cancer than the general population therefore, faecal occult blood tests are only conducted as a preventative measure.

Dr. J. Hurtado Martínez

Medical Director of HealthSalus