In the News
As reported on CBS News, March 15, 2007.
Diet, Exercise May Lower Colon Cancer Risk
Some Studies Have Shown Exercise Can Reduce
Risk Of Colon Cancer By Half
(CBS) Fifty-nine-year-old John Knudson is a former couch potato.
He laced up his jogging shoes shortly after his first colonoscopy,
CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports.
"When I was in there, my doctor said, 'Wow, you're a regular
polyp farm, aren't you,'" Knudson says.
He decided to participate in an experiment examining the impact
of exercise on colon cancer risk, run by Dr. Anne McTiernan of the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
After volunteers like Knudson exercised at least four hours a
week for a year, McTiernan noticed a difference. Dark, abnormal
looking cells that could become polyps and even colon cancer, turned
into more normal-looking areas.
"We were able to see that the rate of growth of these cells was
reduced with exercise," McTiernan says.
Some studies have shown exercise can reduce the risk of colon
cancer by half.
Susan Tourtillotte is hoping diet can make a difference, too.
She lost her father to colon cancer four years ago. "After it is
over, that's when the most frightening part sets in because then you
start looking into your medical past and seeing the skeletons in the
closet," she says.
Tourtillotte grew up eating red meat; she wants her sons growing
up on fish, fruit and vegetables.
She's enrolled in a colon cancer program run by Dr. Joel Levine
of the Colon Cancer Prevention Program at the University of
Connecticut Health Center.
"Don't eat a whole lot of red meat," Levine says. "Eat dairy
products, but not too much. Get your calcium up at the right level,
get enough sunlight and vitamin D and eat your vegetables."
He says vegetables — like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
and cabbage — may trigger a chemical process that turns on an
important gene which suppresses tumors. More research is necessary
to prove a direct link.
Tourtillotte has all the facts she needs.
"I really feel I am going to set a different course, and I think
that's what my Dad would want," she says.
She'll do anything she can to protect her family. |
