Bowel cancer is known by several names, including colon cancer and anal cancer, and it is the fourth most common type of cancer in Britain, after breast cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer. Bowel cancer affects more than 41,600 people every year in Britain alone, and it usually affects men more than women.
Bowel cancer affects people over the age of 65, but it is a slow type in terms of development and growth, as it can develop slowly over the course of 10 years, before it begins to spread to other parts of the body.
The Huffington Post recently quoted Dr. Paul Zollinger-Reed as saying that if a patient has relatives with the disease, he will be more likely to develop the same disease, adding that a patient suffering from diabetes or an ulcer may increase his chances of developing bowel cancer as well.
Dr. Zollinger-Reed also said that unbalanced diets, full of red meat and fat, and lacking in fiber and calcium, may increase the risk of bowel cancer, in addition to other factors such as obesity, smoking, and drinking large amounts of alcohol.
Dr. Zollinger-Reed advised the importance of relying on a diet rich in vegetables, fruits and fibre, reducing the amount of red and processed meat consumed, in addition to exercising regularly.
