A study by Oxford University and Cancer Research UK suggests that drinking just one glass of milk a day could reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer.
With nearly 45,000 cases of bowel cancer diagnosed annually in the UK, making it the fourth most common cancer in the country, the research highlights the potential for prevention. According to Cancer Research UK, adopting a healthier lifestyle could prevent 54% of bowel cancer cases, with smoking, lack of exercise, alcohol, processed meat, and poor diet being major contributing factors.
Justin Stebbing, visiting Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology at Imperial College, London and a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge, shared an article about this case on The Conversation:
“A glass of milk a day could help keep bowel cancer away – or so finds a study by Oxford University and Cancer Research UK. The research suggests that increasing daily milk intake by as little as one glass could have a significant impact on lowering the likelihood of developing bowel cancer.
There are nearly 45,000 cases of bowel cancer every year in the UK, making it the nation’s fourth most common cancer – and third worldwide – but many of these are preventable.
According to Cancer Research UK data, 54% of all bowel cancers could be prevented by having a healthier lifestyle. Smoking, lack of exercise, alcohol, eating processed meat, and poor diet are all significant factors in the development of bowel cancer.
As an oncologist, I advise my patients about how diet and lifestyle can influence health, including the risk of developing cancer. But this research – one of the largest studies into diet and disease so far – has shed new light on how easy, cheap diet changes can help everyone to reduce their cancer risk.
For example, as well as drinking an extra glass of milk per day, reducing consumption of alcohol and red and processed meat could also help protect against cancer. The study found that drinking an additional 20g of alcohol a day, equivalent to a large glass of wine, increased bowel cancer risk by 15%. Consuming more than 30g of red and processed meat daily was linked to an 8% increase in bowel cancer risk.”
Read Full Article at theconversation.com.
Justin Stebbing is a visiting Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology at Imperial College, London and a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge. He was appointed the first NIHR oncology professor in 2011.
He is editor-in-chief of Nature’s cancer journal Oncogene. Prof. Stebbing has published over 700 peer-reviewed papers in leading academic journals. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and the Royal College of Pathologists, and sits on many advisory boards. He is on the Editorial Board of OncoDaily.
Further Reading:
Small Bowel Cancer: Alarming Symptoms and Causes, Types, Diagnosis and Treatment