What about colon cancer specifically?
There are common sense diet and lifestyle guidelines to help put the odds in your favor for all types of cancer. But each cancer seems to have its own subtle differences. Some cancers appear to be more related to diet or lifestyle than others, and some diet practices seem to have a stronger effect in some cancers than others. Some researchers estimate that half of all colorectal cancers may be caused by inherited defects. The rest arise because of carcinogenic substances inhaled, swallowed, or bred by the bacteria that thrive in the colon.
Carcinogens in the colon
The food waste from our meals (what is left after the small intestine has absorbed all it can absorb) travels through the colon, then the rectum, then out of the body. This waste can contain different carcinogens. Plant foods in our diet help us counteract these carcinogens by decreasing the number, concentration, and exposure of these carcinogens to our colorectal cells.
Colorectal tumors develop inside the colon or rectum. After the tumor has been there for a certain amount of time, some of its cells may break away and enter the bloodstream or lymph system.
These cells may then form new tumors in other parts of the body. There are some growths in the colon or rectum that are considered benign (not cancerous) tumors or polyps. But it is still important to remove these because they can bleed or interfere with the intestine’s function, and may become cancerous over time if they are not removed.
When you eat fat in food, a greenish liquid called bile (bile contains cholesterol, lecithin, and bile acids and is made in the liver) is released into your small intestine to help with the digestion and absorption of fat. As much as you might not want your body to digest the fat you eat, it tries to digest as much as possible. Bile acids help transform the fat (triglycerides) into small droplets so they can be more available to the enzymes that are trying to break them down for absorption.
These bile acids may be left behind in the intestines. Unfriendly bacteria can convert bile acids into different carcinogenic forms. Whether or not these carcinogenic forms of bile acids actually do some damage depends on their concentration in the colon, and how quickly they move through the colon.
The faster, the better, which is where your food choices can help. You can eat foods that encourage a lower concentration of the secondary bile acids, (avoiding high fat meals) and you can eat foods that speed up the colon (eating less fat and more plant foods and fiber).
The more fat you eat, the higher the concentration of bile acids collecting in your colon because bile acids are released expressly to help the body digest food fat. Too much fat and too little fiber in your diet means that food waste tends to travel slowly through your colon.
Eating lots of plant foods helps balance out the bile acids because they contain fiber, which speeds up the colon. Plant foods also contain antioxidants and helpful phytochemicals that help protect the colon cells from the carcinogens produced during digestion.
Let’s put it this way, in a typical American diet (low in fiber) food takes three or more days to pass completely through the gastrointestinal tract and out of the body. With a higher fiber diet, food waste is eliminated in a day or two.
Let’s review:
Fat is slow. Fiber is fast. High-fat, low-fiber diets tend to slow down the colon. Lower-fat, higher-fiber diets tend to speed it up.
How the food we eat helps the colon
Helpful nutrients from food, such as vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals are absorbed into our bloodstream. High levels of these nutrients can help keep your body and immune system ready to fight potentially carcinogenic reactions.
But it’s the materials that our body can’t digest and absorb (food waste) that actually travel through and come in harmful contact with colon cells. The plant foods we eat (part of which is not absorbed) can then help to:
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09132010
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