NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters Health) -- The risk of getting colon cancer appears to be related to several aspects of people's lifestyle, including their diet, weight, and physical activity, researchers report.
To investigate the role that people's habits may play in the disease, Dr. Martha L. Slattery of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and her colleagues there and elsewhere interviewed 1,993 men and women with colon cancer and 2,410 healthy 'control' subjects in northern California, Utah, and Minnesota. Their results are published in the October 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The interviews assessed study participants' age, sex, education, diet, physical activity, body size, family history of colorectal cancer, cigarette smoking, drinking, coffee consumption, and use of dietary supplements, aspirin, and other anti-inflammatory drugs.
Among both men and women, the investigators found, risk of colon cancer was linked to several lifestyle factors, even when participants' age was taken into account. Study participants who exercised more were less likely to have colon cancer. Diet was also an important risk factor in the study, especially for participants who were younger than 67 years of age. Those who ate a "Western" diet -- featuring high-calorie intake, animal proteins, red meats, high-fat dairy products, and sugar -- were at an elevated risk for colon cancer.
In contrast, those whose diet was characterized by low-fat dairy products and calcium were less likely to develop colon cancer.
Slattery and colleagues conclude that "the importance of developing a lifestyle that incorporates vigorous physical activity appears to be universal to all groups evaluated and may be the most important component of a healthy lifestyle that decreases risk of colon cancer."
