Diet and exercise to prevent colorectal cancer

A study with data of 7,216 people between 55 and 80 years old has found that following cancer prevention guidelines and a healthy lifestyle -healthy eating, physical activity, low intake of sugary drinks or alcohol- reduces by almost half the colorectal cancer risk in older people.

This Spanish-led research is part of the Predimed study (Prevention with a Mediterranean diet) and its results are published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

To reach their conclusions, researchers from the Cyberbn (Center for Biomedical Research in Network-Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition) and the Predimed study analyzed the association between two lifestyle indices and the risk of developing colorectal cancer in high-risk individuals cardiovascular.

The first index called “WCRF / AICR Index 2018”, evaluated compliance with seven of the latest recommendations for cancer prevention from the WCRF / AICR (World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research).

That is, maintain a healthy weight; doing physical activity; follow a diet rich in whole foods, vegetables, fruits, and legumes; limit the consumption of fast food and other processed foods rich in fats and sugars; limit the consumption of red and processed meats; limit intake of sugary drinks; and alcohol.

The second index, proposed by researchers at Harvard University (USA) in 2018 and called the “Low-Risk Lifestyle Index”, served as a tool to measure the monitoring of five healthy lifestyle factors: no smoke; do not drink alcohol; get regular physical activity; maintain an adequate body mass index and follow a healthy diet.

After analyzing data from 7,216 people aged 55 to 80 years who were studied for 6 years, it was observed that those individuals who presented greater adherence to specific recommendations for cancer prevention (follow-up of at least five recommendations out of the seven considered) , had a 48% lower risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to those with less adherence.

On the other hand, of all the cancer prevention recommendations, the one that showed the greatest association with the risk of colorectal cancer was the consumption of sugary drinks, Ciberobn notes in a note.

Thus, it was observed that those participants with a higher consumption of these drinks (more than one glass a day) showed a 58% higher risk of colorectal cancer compared to those who did not consume them.

Likewise, it was also observed that greater adherence to a healthy lifestyle, valued using the low-risk lifestyle index (meeting more than three of the five recommendations), was associated with a 52% lower risk of developing this Cancer.

Colorectal cancer is a major public health problem worldwide, as it is the second most common cancer in women and the third in men.