Your colon completes the final stages of digestion by pushing waste from food to your rectum for elimination. But your colon also serves another vital purpose in housing trillions of healthy bacteria to help your immune system fight infections. Dietary and lifestyle habits influence colon health and either maintain regular bowel functions or invite damaging invaders into your intestinal walls, resulting in disorders, including polyps, cancer or inflammatory diseases.
Factors You Cannot Control
Diseases impacting the colon include diverticular disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome and colon polyps or cancer. These are all grouped as digestive diseases that impact millions of Americans each year. Some influences on colon-related disease cannot be controlled, including inherited genetic syndromes, ethnicity or age. Ninety percent of people diagnosed with colon cancer are over the age of 50, notes MayoClinic.com, and African-Americans are at higher risk for colon problems than other ethnic groups. Although you cannot change these factors, your risk of colon problems reduces significantly when you minimize the factors you can control.
Obesity and Sedentary Lifestyle
According to the American Cancer Society, abdominal obesity increases your risk of colon polyp development and colon cancer. A sedentary lifestyle and lack of regular physical exercise not only contribute to obesity but also influence colon cancer risk. The reason obesity has an impact may be associated with poor dietary habits, including high-fat food consumption, which is poorly absorbed during digestion and not readily eliminated as waste from your colon. Weight loss and regular exercise reduce your risk of colon disease by up to 50 percent.
Smoking and Alcohol Use
Inhaling carcinogens and other toxic substances through smoking increases the risk of cancerous cell development in your colon. Excessive alcohol consumption also comes with this risk because the intoxicating substance, ethyl alcohol, is not digested readily in your body. Your colon weakens from the toxic substances in cigarettes and alcohol, resulting in possible bowel inflammation, polyp formation and diverticular pouches that weaken your colon walls. Consult your physician for smoking and alcohol cessation programs to help you lower your risk of colon problems.
High-Fat and Low-Fiber Diet
Excess consumption of fatty red meat, fried foods and whole dairy combined with a low-fiber diet is detrimental to colon health. Your colon requires fiber from carbohydrate foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables to form stool bulk that regulates your bowels. Fatty foods take longer to digest and do not metabolize as readily, ultimately forming hard, dry stool that can cause constipation and colon irritation. Maintain a healthy colon with food by limiting your saturated fat intake to 10 percent or less of your total daily calories and consume 25 to 35 g of fibrous foods daily so your bowels stay regular. According to a 2011 study from the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," high-protein and low-carbohydrate diets significantly increase your risk of colon disease.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Colon Cancer; Mayo Clinic Staff; April 15, 2009
- National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse: Your Digestive System and How it Works
- Cleveland Clinic: Detecting and Treating Diseases of the Colon and Rectum
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; High-Protein, Reduced-Carbohydrate Weight-Loss Diets Promote Metabolite Profiles Likely to Be Detrimental to Colonic Health; Wendy R. Russell, et al.; 2011
- Jackson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology: High Fiber Diet; Frank W. Jackson, M.D.
- American Cancer Society: Colorectal Cancer Facts and Figures: Risk Factors
