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Colon Cancer and ProbioticsIn the latest available (Feb 2006) stats from the World Health Organization, colon cancer or rectal cancer is ranked as the third most common form of cancer. Colorectal cancer causes 655,000 deaths each year. And despite all the research, it sometimes feels as if we aren’t that much closer to preventing it. Everything about our modern lifestyle – stress, smoking, obesity, sedentary living – increases our risk of various cancers. Experts rate obesity, the eating of red and processed meats and excessive alcohol intake as “probable” factors for increased risk of colon rectal cancer. The consumption of animal fat and food with a high glycaemic load are rated (upon the evidence so far) as “possible” causes.¹ And if any cancer is to be linked to diet, this is the one. Food passes through our gastrointestinal tract and is in intimate contact with it for 48-72 hours, molecules are broken down and rebuilt, and many chemical reactions take place. We’ve moved a very long way from what our ancestors ate – in fact, we’ve moved a very long way from what even our grandparents ate. And we’re paying the price for that. We used to eat foods that were teaming with both good and bad bacteria. This built a healthy immune system. Some of these good bacteria made vitamins that we could use. Now we eat food that has had all life radiated out of it. Most of us have a fairly good idea as to whether our eating habits are healthy or not. But we often go against what we instinctively know to be best. Experts believe that up to 75% of colorectal cancer is associated with diet.² It seems fairly obvious that what we eat must impact on something like colon cancer. The impact of your diet on colon cancer can not be ignored.
5FU and VSL3It’s great to see a number of probiotics being trialled against chemo induced diarrhea. One readily available probiotic has impressed against diarrhea caused by 5FU. What can't Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG do? Give that bug a ball of wool and it’ll knit you a jersey!VSL3 is a probiotic blend of 8 bacteria that is smoothing out the less pleasant effects of chemotherapy. Another probiotic (or at least an 8 member tag-team, this time) stepping up to the plate against diarrhea. 1.Gonzalex CA. Nutrition and cancer: the current epidemiological evidence. British Journal Nutrition 96, Suppl 1: S42-S45. 2. Rafter J. Probiotics and Colon cancer. Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology. vol 17, issue 5, pp849-859 Oct 2003
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