Hi, everyone. Welcome back.
Colorectal cancer is an umbrella term that includes both colon cancer and rectal cancer, and it is the third most common cancer diagnosed worldwide.
Now, our diet plays a crucial role in the prevention in treatment of colon cancer. The foods that we eat provide powerful nutrients that potentially can reduce our risk as well as support overall health.
In today's video, I'll be diving into what are the risk factors for the development of colon cancer?
What are the best foods to fight colon cancer?
What foods should be limited in colon cancer prevention?
And lastly, what are some tips to help enhance our colon health and reduce our risk?
Okay, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a registered dietitian at Flusso Nutrients where we provide supplement education and professional quality supplement options for you to make the world with nutrition supplements a little bit easier to navigate.
As always, be sure to check with your main nutrition literate healthcare provider before starting anything new. As we can't know your full medical history to provide a personalized recommendation.
So without further ado, let's jump into today's topic.
[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]
What are the risk factors for the development of colon cancer?
So colon cancer develops when abnormal cells in the colon begin to grow uncontrollably. While genetics play a role as well as certain having certain conditions like inflammatory bowel disease or polyps, diet and lifestyle choices are also influential factors in the prevention of this type of cancer. So diet and lifestyle factors that can increase your risk include living a sedentary lifestyle or just having a lack of physical activity. Obesity, especially carrying extra abdominal weight because this can increase the levels of inflammation in the body. Having a diet that's low in fiber and high in processed foods, heavy consumption of alcohol as well as smoking.
So what are the best foods to fight colon cancer?
We know that diet plays a crucial role when it comes to colon cancer, and research has shown that certain dietary patterns and specific foods can significantly reduce your risk for colon cancer and may even improve outcomes for those that are already diagnosed.
Ideally, we want to create an environment where cancer is less likely to grow, and you can start to do this through your food choices. So one of the first things that you can do to work to prevent colon cancer is to increase the amount of fiber rich foods that you're eating. So this is going to be from whole grains, beans and legumes, lots of fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds.
Research has shown that a high fiber diet is associated with a lowered risk of colon cancer. Now, fiber is important for a few. The first is that fiber is going to help keep things moving and help promote regular bowel movements, which we need because fiber helps to pull toxins out of our system so that carcinogens and other toxic substances are not lingering in our system and potentially leading to changes that may cause cancer.
The second thing is that fiber helps to produce butyrate, which is a short chain fatty acid. Now, our gut bacteria ferment the fiber that we eat into short chain fatty acids like butyrate. Now, butyrate helps to decrease the amount of inflammation in the gut. It helps to improve our barrier function, and it also can inhibit cancer cell proliferation by turning on this tumor suppressing gene. Now, low levels of butyrate have been associated with an increased risk of colon cancer, so we really want to try to aim for at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day.
The next thing that we can do is to include more anti-inflammatory foods. So anti-inflammatory diets like the Mediterranean diet have been associated with inhibited tumor cell growth in colon cancer, and we know that chronic inflammation is a risk factor for colon cancer.
Now, specifically omega threes that we find in our fatty fish, our walnuts, flaxseed, chia seeds, olive oil, these have anti-inflammatory properties, and some studies suggest that it may reduce tumor growth.
Now, turmeric and ginger also have strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The curcumin, that's the compound that's found in turmeric, has been shown to reduce inflammation as well as inhibit cancer cell growth. Now, these can be added to soups and stews, different sauces, smoothies, or they can be steeped into tea.
So the next food that we can incorporate more of is green tea. So green tea is not only high in antioxidants, which help protect our cells from oxidative stress and inflammation, but it's also high in polyphenols. And polyphenols are going to help to promote the growth of that anti-inflammatory bacteria in the gut, which can modulate the environment in which colon cancer grows.
Now the next food is cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage are also high in antioxidants and fiber, but they also have a compound called sulforaphane. Now, sulforaphane is important in our detoxification pathways, but studies have also shown that it may have some cancer fighting properties.
And then lastly, incorporating more gut-friendly foods. So probiotic rich foods or fermented foods, prebiotics, as well as things like bone broth or collagen or aloe, which are all very nourishing for our gut. And this is going to promote a healthy gut environment, which we know is essential for the prevention of colon cancer.
Alright, so now that we've talked about some of the beneficial foods for colon cancer,
What foods should be limited for colon cancer prevention?
So while incorporating cancer, fighting foods is essential, it's equally as essential to limit certain foods that can increase your risk of colon cancer. These foods are going to include processed meats like hot dogs, sausage, bacon, or deli meats. Now, it'll be especially not beneficial if they're cooked at high temperatures where they get really charred. Now, processed foods in general are not a great option. These are highly inflammatory. They have a lot of damaged fats and artificial ingredients and sugars and additives, and then excess consumption of refined carbohydrates or sugar as these can all contribute to inflammation and they're very low in fiber, which we know is essential for promoting colon health.
So what tips help to enhance colon health and reduce our risk?
So although it's important to focus on a balanced diet that includes many different types of fibers as well as decreasing our consumption of processed foods and excess sugars, there are a few other things to consider. The first is that we should be having regular bowel movements. So the longer that food or stool sits in your GI tract, the higher the likelihood that toxic substances can damage the intestinal lining, cause inflammation, which is an environment that's going to be conducive to the development of cancer. So that's where that fiber can be really beneficial.
Next, we want to decrease inflammation due to the link between inflammation and cancer. We want to make sure that we are preventing chronic inflammation. Now, diet is going to play a huge role here, but there are also things that can cause inflammation as well. So paying attention to stress levels as well as infections.
The next thing that's important to consider is to treat underlying health conditions. So if you struggle with any gut issues or you have any gut conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, it's important to work on improving these conditions as the environment that those conditions are in can increase your risk of colon cancer. And if you're not really sure how to do this, this is something that our clinic specializes in and we would be happy to help.
Next, like I mentioned before, you want to limit your consumption of alcohol. Quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight. We know obesity has been linked to an increased risk of colon cancer.
Lastly, regular physical activity. So physical activity is going to help decrease inflammation, promote regular bowel movements, and help to maintain a healthy weight, which we know is all essential for decreasing your risk of colon cancer.
To wrap up our topic for today,
Although diet alone cannot guarantee prevention of colon cancer, incorporating more fiber rich foods, anti-inflammatory foods and gut-friendly foods can be significantly contribute to your colon health. Now, colon cancer prevention is not just about the foods that you eat, but also about adopting a healthy lifestyle, including increasing your exercise, limiting alcohol, and maintaining a healthy weight.
Now because fiber is so important for your colon health, if you struggle to get enough fiber through diet alone, then a fiber supplement may be really beneficial for you. I'll have a quality one linked below in the description box if you're interested.
That's it for today's video. If you like this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions. If you're interested in working with our clinic, you could click the link here to schedule an appointment. We do take insurance and you can find more information about that on our website.
Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!
1) Dynamic Fiber: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com/dynamic-fiber
2) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com & https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients