BOWEL CANCER RISK REDUCED BY ADOPTING MULTIPLE HEALTHY BEHAVIORS
Adoption of a
combination of five key healthy behaviors is associated with a reduction in the
risk of developing bowel cancer. Researchers from the German Institute of Human
Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke quantified the impact of combined multiple healthy
lifestyle behaviors on the risk of developing bowel cancer, and found that this
impact is stronger in men than in women.
Lead author, Krasimira
Aleksandrova, says: "These data provide additional incentive to
individuals, medical professionals and public health authorities to invest in
healthy lifestyle initiatives. Each person can contribute a lot to avoid
cancer, the more healthy lifestyle changes, the better."
Bowel cancer, also
called colorectal cancer, is the second most common cancer in men and the third
most common cancer in women worldwide, with 55% cases occurring in developed
regions such as North America and Western Europe. Previous studies have
identified links between the cancer frequency rates and western lifestyles.
However, most research has focused on isolated lifestyle behaviors, such as
eating red meat, while little is known about the combined impact of lifestyle
factors beyond their individual effects.
The research published
in the open access journal BMC Medicine analyzed the data of
347,237 men and women from 10 countries from the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort study using a healthy
lifestyle index. Over the 12-year study period, 3,759 cases of bowel cancer
were recorded.
The healthy lifestyle
index was composed by the following lifestyle factors: a healthy weight; low
abdominal fat; participating in regular physical activity; not smoking and
limiting alcohol; and a diet high in fruits, vegetables, fish, yoghurt, nuts
and seeds, and foods rich in fiber, and low amounts of red and processed meat.
For each of the five behaviors, study subjects were assigned one point for
having the healthy factor and zero for not having the healthy factor. These
points were then summed to generate a cumulative score for each participant.
Krasimira
Aleksandrova, says: "Our data confirmed that with an increasing number of
healthy lifestyle behaviors the risk that a person will have of developing
bowel cancer decreases."
The researchers found
that the more healthy lifestyle factors the cohort adopted, the lower their
risk of bowel cancer. Compared to people who had followed up to one healthy
lifestyle behavior, those who practiced a combination of two, three, four and
all the five healthy behaviors had a 13%, 21%, 34% and 37% lower risk of
developing bowel cancer, respectively. The authors noted a difference between
men and women.
Krasimira
Aleksandrova, says: "Estimates based on our study populations suggest that
up to 22% of the cases in men and 11% of the cases in women would have been
prevented if all five of the healthy lifestyle behaviors had been followed. Our
results particularly demonstrate the potential for prevention in men who are at
a higher risk of bowel cancer than women."
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