14 DAY TRIAL // A prospective Danish cohort study found that the advice given by the World Health Organization, World Cancer Research Fund and the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, could help reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer by 23%, if respected.
This means that nearly a quarter of colorectal cancer cases can be prevented, simply by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
The Danish researchers carried out this study to better assess the link between having a healthy lifestyle and reducing the risk of developing bowel cancer in middle-aged people (as colorectal cancer is rather rare in people under 40).
So they gathered data on 55,487 men and women aged 50-64, that had not previously been diagnosed with cancer, and studied them over nearly 10 years, up to 2006.
The participants had to fill in a questionnaire including information about health status, social and reproductive factors and lifestyle habits, and also a food frequency questionnaire, in order to evaluate the average intake for a 12-month period.
Then the team created a healthy lifestyle standard, by mixing the public health recommendations from the World Health Organization, World Cancer Research Fund and the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations.
The guidelines included the five essential characteristics of a healthy life: being physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, having maximum seven drinks a week for women and 14 drinks a week for men, not smoking, having a waist circumference under 88 cm for women and 102 cm for men and keeping a healthy diet.
During the 10-year follow-up period, 678 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
The researchers assessed the way the participants respected the healthy lifestyle recommendations and concluded that if they had followed at least one additional guideline, they would have reduced their risk of bowel cancer by 13%.
If all study participants had respected all the guidelines, then 23% of the colorectal cancer cases could have been avoided.
The team concludes that the “study reveals the useful public health message that even modest differences in lifestyle might have a substantial impact on colorectal cancer risk and emphasizes the importance of continuing vigorous efforts to convince people to follow the lifestyle recommendations.”
In an additional study, the researchers found out that people with low education who used a decision aid in whether or not to have a bowel cancer screening, are more informed about the risks but less likely to have the test.
Despite the low screening results, the researchers consider that at least these people are well informed, and that the choice belongs to them.
This is why they recommend that people who want to make an informed choice should have easy access to the information they need, so this data could even be part of primary care.
The new Danish study is published on bmj.com.