Include whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, this is advice you have heard over and over again.  March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and to prevent colorectal cancer – include whole grains in your diet.  Colorectal cancer that starts in the large intestines or in the rectum and repeated studies show that a diet high in fiber may reduce the risk for this cancer.  A few studies in particular have showed that a diet high in whole grains is associated with a lower risk for colorectal cancer.

What are whole grains?  All grains, start out as kernels.  The outermost layer of the kernel – the bran – contains most of the fiber content.  The germ – the kernel’s center – contains most of the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids.  In between the bran and the germ is the endosperm – this contains a few vitamins and most of the starch.

The process of refining involves the mechanical removal of the bran and germ, leaving the endosperm which is mostly the starchy part. Further refining includes mixing, bleaching and nutritional enrichment to replenish some of the vitamins that are removed in the first step of the process.  The nutrients added back in represent a fraction of the nutrients removed, leaving refined grains nutritionally void in comparison to whole grains.  The fiber content of whole grains can be four times that of refined grains.

An easy way to increase your dietary fiber intake is to remove refined grains from your diet and replace them with whole grains.  This simple change can make your diet healthier overall and provide you with the much needed vitamins and minerals that are found in whole grains.  Replace white bread with whole grain bread, white rice with brown or wild rice – or try out a new grain

From the National Institute of Health’s website:

You have a higher risk for colon cancer if you:

• Are older than 60
• Are African American and eastern European descent
• Eat a diet high in red or processed meat
• Have cancer elsewhere in the body
• Have colorectal polyps
• Have inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
• Have a family history of colon cancer
• Have a personal history of breast cancer

During your yearly physical exam your doctor may conduct a fecal occult blood test to detect if there is any blood in your stool, if positive this can suggest the presence of colon cancer.  This test can often be negative in patients with colon cancer, so it is normally done along with a colonoscopy.  A colonoscopy is recommended for everyone over 50 who have a normal risk of cancer.  This simple procedure is used as a screening test for cancerous and pre-cancerous growths in the colon and rectum.  So if you are over 50 and haven’t had a colonoscopy yet, call your doctor today and speak to them about this!