Current colorectal cancer screening guidelines call for testing average risk people when they reach their fiftieth birthday.  But is that soon enough?  Would earlier screening find more adenomatous polyps and prevent more colorectal cancer?

Scientists at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reviewed nearly 3,600 autopsies performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1985 through 2004.  They compared the younger group from 20 to 49 to older  patients from 50 to 89. They looked at the adenomatous polyps found in each decade of life, as well as patient sex and race and the location of the polyps in the colon.

Fewer than 2 percent of the autopsied patients in their twenties had adenomas, rising to about 3.6 percent between ages 40 and 49.  However, the number of people with adenomas increased sharply after 50. Read the rest of this entry »

Colon and rectum

Both black men and black women are more likely to have large polyps found during screening colonoscopies than whites.  Results of a large study that collected information from 67 gastrointestinal practices over two years found 6.2 percent of whites and 7.7 percent of blacks had colorectal polyps (adenomas) were larger than 9 millimeters.  These advanced adenomas have the most risk of developing into colon or rectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Hair stylists and barbers in South Carolina are delivering a life-saving message to the folks sitting in their chairs — see your doctor about being screened for colorectal cancer.  More than 40 hair care professionals have already been trained in how to help their clients avoid colon and rectal cancer by following screening recommendations.  The goal is to reach at least 100 stylists, each promising to talk to 100 clients. Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent study, eating more fruits and vegetables protected men to some extent from colorectal cancer, but there wasn’t a similar benefit for women. After adjusting for calories and other known colorectal cancer risks, men in the study who ate the most fruits and vegetables had about a 25 percent reduced risk of getting cancer compared to those who ate the least.

86,000 men and 105,000 women filled out food frequency questionnaires at the beginning of the study. Over an average follow-up period of seven years, 1,100 men and 1,000 women were diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer. Using the questionnaires, a research team divided people into five groups (quintiles) ranging from those who ate the most fruits and vegetables to those who ate the least.

Men in the highest quintile had a 26 percent decreased in colorectal cancers over those in the lowest.  Fruit alone boosted chances that men wouldn’t get colorectal cancer 15 percent, while vegetables decreased risk 20 percent.  Risks were reduced more for colon than rectal cancer.

However, women showed no benefit from higher intake.

The amount of grains eaten made no difference for either men or women.

Abraham Nomura and his team concluded,

The intake of vegetables and fruit was inversely related to colorectal cancer risk among men but not among women. The association appears stronger for colon than for rectal cancer.

The NIH-AARP Diet and Health study found similar results.  In that study, nearly half a million men and women were followed for five years after filling out a food frequency questionnaire.

The amount of fruit reported eaten showed no difference in the development of colorectal cancer for either men or women.  The men who ate the smallest total of both fruits and vegetables had a 26 percent decrease in colorectal cancer, and leafy green vegetables seemed to give the most benefit.  There was no similar benefit for women.

Yikung Park and the team at the National Cancer Institute concluded,

In this large, prospective cohort study with 2,972 incident colorectal cancer cases and extensive information on diet and other colorectal cancer risk factors, we observed that vegetable intake was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer for men but not for women. The association was stronger among individuals with very low intakes of fruits and vegetables, suggesting a certain minimum amount of daily fruit and vegetable consumption to avoid increased risk of colorectal cancer. Among subgroups of vegetables, green leafy vegetable intake was inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer for men.

It’s important to note that studies that try to relate diet to cancer are difficult to conduct and often have conflicting results.  Participants may have difficulty recalling what they ate or may overstate their intake of what they perceive to be healthy foods.

Last year a pooled analysis of 14 diet studies that included over 756,000 men and women found no association between reported consumption of fruits and vegetables and colorectal cancer.  Reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in September 2007, the study found a weak link between how many fruit and vegetables were eaten and cancer in the lower part of the colon but no association overall for either men or women.

SOURCES

Nomura et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 88, Number 3, September, 2008.

Park et. al., American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 166, Number 2, July 15, 2007.

Koushik et al., Journal of the National Cancer Institute, advance access published online September 25, 2007.

Latinos who responded to a health questionnaire in Spanish were significantly less likely to have been screened for colorectal cancer than Latinos who answered in English or English-speaking non-Latinos. Read the rest of this entry »