24by7Article.com | How To Avoid Colon Cancer – Its Origin Could Be The Answer For Its Avoidance

Are you concerned about colon cancer? Late phase colon cancer is a very lethal disease that takes the lives of over fifty thousand annually in the USA alone. What may be done to protect yourself from this disease? Here we discuss the preventive actions you may adopt to realize optimal colon health.

The colon is commonly known as large intestine that functions as temporary storage organ for body wastes, feces in particular. It empties by the last stage of the digestive process called defecation. As a person’s age reaches 50 years old and above, the colon becomes very susceptible for contracting malignancy. Colon cancer is a deadly condition and has tagged this age group as high risk individuals. However, precautionary measures can be taken to avoid the colon malignancy.

Everyone can be susceptible to colon cancer. On the other hand, there are people who seemed to be born with some or all of the risks factors of this malignancy while others acquire or inflict themselves with the said factors. Aside from age, the individual’s choice of food, lifestyle and pre-existing polyps in the intestine also predispose a person to the aforementioned disease. In particular, high cholesterol and low fiber diet increases an individual’s chance to develop colon cancer. Carcinogens from smoking are also one of the contributory factors that lead to colon malignancy. However, intestinal polyps are most likely to progress into malignant overgrowth and are the major cause of colon cancer, especially when accompanied with the other factors.

Moreover, identifying the colon cancer risk factors establishes a guide for health care professionals to plot prophylactic interventions against intestinal malignancy. One of the medical recommendations which gained A+ rate from physicians is promoting early diagnosis through colonoscopy. This diagnostic procedure provides a video image of the internal structure of the colon with the use of colonoscope (flexible lighted tube with built-in camera), which can be viewed through a video screen. Any abnormalities in the anatomical structures of the colon such as polyps’ growth will be captured through the video. Consequently, polyp removal by surgery is one of the available options to hinder further cellular aberration, which may become cancerous when ignored.

However, the diet issue on colon cancer must be addressed down to the level of the food content involved. Fiber is believed to prevent malignancy in the colon by promoting regular good bowel movement; thereby, wastes and toxins that might harm the colon cells are not held for too long in the gut. Moreover, high cholesterol level is considered a significant factor causing an increased amount of natural carcinogens produced by the body called free-radicals.

The normal metabolism of the body is responsible for the production of free-radicals. However, the destruction caused by free-radicals are controlled and even prevented by the natural antioxidants like glutathione. Therefore, other aspects that may cause imbalance between free-radicals and antioxidants’ level such as high blood cholesterol must be totally avoided. Cholesterol molecules are susceptible to be transformed into free-radicals because free- radicals may bind and steal ions from them. Hence, it is logical to say that high blood cholesterol level is directly proportional to the amount of free-radicals in the body. This means that an increase in cholesterol level increases the free radicals level as well and vice versa.

In addition, habitual cigarette or tobacco smoking is also a popular source of carcinogens. Taking in the hazardous chemicals from smoking exacerbates the cellular damage caused by free radicals. Hence, the recommendations are “stop smoking” for smokers and “never smoker” for non-smokers.

In general, prevention of colon cancer is dependent on the determination of its possible origin such as the risk factors mentioned above. When this origin is identified, appropriate interventions can be set up to maintain a healthy colon. The elimination of these factors or decrease of exposure of individuals to them reduces the risk of developing the disease and increases the chance of preventing colon cancer.

The information offered in this article is NOT a substitute to qualified treatment and should not be used for screening or treating a health issue or sickness. Always talk to your health provider if you happen to have or imagine you may have a medical issue.