Preventing colon cancer By Carol Weinman, Pure Matters
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer
deaths for men and women combined. When men and women are
considered separately, colorectal cancer is the third most
common cause of death in each sex, according to the American
Cancer Society (ACS). (For men and women, lung cancer is the
leading cause of cancer deaths, prostate cancer is the second
leading cause for men, and breast cancer is the second leading
cause for women.) Your risk for developing colorectal cancer
increases with age, but other lifestyle factors and genetics
also play a role in increasing risk. The risk for colorectal
cancer increases after age 40. The risk rises sharply beginning
around age 50 and continues to increase with each passing
decade. Because colorectal cancer develops slowly, the ACS
emphasizes screening for the early detection of pre-cancerous
polyps. Early detection focuses on finding and removing a type
of polyp in the colon called an adenoma, which is the pr