Colon Cancer Survival Odds May Improve with Healthy Lifestyle

The Colon Cancer Alliance, reports colon cancer is the third most common type of cancer diagnosed in America. It is also the second primary cause of deaths among men and women combined. In 2015, the American Cancer Society estimates that 136,830 people will be newly diagnosed with it and 50,310 individuals will die from it.

New Information

A promising new study gives colon cancer patients an improved chance at survival if they’ve already been participating in a healthy lifestyle prior to diagnosis.

Survival rates for colon cancer will vary greatly from person to person. Even with patients who have similar tumors and get the same treatment. It has been proposed that lifestyle factors before and after colon cancer play a vital role in how well people will respond to treatment.

The new study supports the idea that the better a person’s lifestyle was before being diagnosed with colon cancer, the better the odds of survival.
It’s worth mentioning the study was designed to show an association between healthy lifestyle factors and increased mortality rates, but it didn’t conclusively prove these two things directly caused a better outcome.

The Study

The new study was conducted using data compiled from more than 520,000 people from ten different European countries. For about six years, the health of the study participants was tracked. During that time, about 3,300 of the individuals were diagnosed with colon cancer.

The people taking part in the study were given a score that was based on how compliant they were with healthy lifestyle guidelines in such areas as physical activity, dietary habits and body weight.
The results of the study revealed that maintaining a healthy body weight and eating a diet high in plant-based foods were more strongly linked to survival. The information was published in the May 7th, 2015 issue of the BMC Medicine journal.

Scientists found females who breast-fed had a better chance of survival than those who didn’t. This link has also been found among women with breast cancer, but it’s the first time it’s been witnessed in a colon cancer study, the authors reported.

Results

Dora Romaguera, of the Imperial College London and lead study author reported, “The results of this study demonstrate that a healthy lifestyle in your adult life, in line with recommendations on diet, physical activity and body weight for cancer prevention, do not prevent developing bowel (colon) cancer but, in those who eventually develop it, it improves survival.”

It’s important to not only adopt a healthy lifestyle
because it will improve one’s quality of life, but it is also crucial in improving the odds of survival in those diagnosed with colon cancer. Further research is needed in order to determine exactly how diet, weight control and physical activity influence colon cancer survival rates and to find out how it can benefit those facing this diagnosis.