Gastrointestinal Cancers: Understanding The Role of Lifestyle in Gastrointestinal Cancer

By wazup on August 28, 2023 Comments Closed / 88 views

A high intake of green vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of bowel cancer, while a high vitamin C intake is associated with a reduced risk of stomach cancer.

“I never drink water, that is the stuff that rusts pipes.”

C. Fields told ironically. In reality, not drinking enough water, and not eating enough fibre such as fruits, veggies and cereals can alter our bowel habits to such an extent that is enough to trigger colon cancer. Studies reveal that both anxiety and depression related to our stressed urban lifestyle have a robust contribution to the incidence of deadly gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies. As a consequence, the pipe which is designed to drain our food waste as stool, drains out our precious lives.

While high socio-economic status is not mandatory for achieving a healthy food habit, people invite GI cancers by spending thousands on alcohol and smoking. Though depicted in the cigarette packets, smoking does not cause lung cancer only; it shares a very strong bond with cancers of the colon, pancreas, oesophagus (swallowing tube), and stomach.

A high intake of green vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of bowel cancer, while a high vitamin C intake is associated with a reduced risk of stomach cancer. There is good evidence that getting enough calcium and vitamin D can help protect against colon cancer. Good sources of calcium include low-fat dairy, fortified plant-based milks, nuts, beans and greens. Good sources of vitamin D include eggs, fatty fish and fortified dairy products. However, supplements can help fill gaps but should not take the place of real food or a healthy diet. Avoiding red, salted, and burnt meats has been proven beneficial.

Aiming for only thirty minutes of exercise every day may change your pathetic destiny. If you’re just starting, start slowly before building up to 30 minutes. A sedentary lifestyle may put you at risk for gastrointestinal cancers. Overweight and obesity are important risk factors for cancer of the stomach and colon, the latter in particular among men. Consuming antacids countlessly, and taking painkillers like aspirin, ibuprofen, and diclofenac irrespective of your doctor’s advice can also widen the way to stomach cancer.

The cancer process is a multi-year, multi-stage process that most often begins with chronic gastritis. The vast majority of stomach cancer cases i.e. about 60% are associated with a bacterial (H. pylori) infection. Though still an area of debate and controversy, eradication of the same prevents gastric cancer to some extent. Presently in our country, the government is not running any gastro-intestinal cancer screening programme. Yet, if you’re 45 or older with a positive family history and altered bowel habits specially excreting black stool, having too much diarrhoea or constipation schedule a colonoscopy after consulting your family physician- a screening test that checks for polyps before they turn into colon cancer.

It uses a small flexible camera to look at the full length of the inside of the colon. If performed systematically by an experienced doctor with enough sedation, the procedure is not only painless but also specifically clinches the diagnosis. With drastic technological developments of the twenty-first century, advanced non-invasive imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and PET are able not only to detect but also to define the extent and fine details of GI tumours. However, these diagnostic advancements work only when symptoms are reported early.

If you experience loss of appetite, trouble swallowing, fatigue or weakness, unexplained weight loss, heartburn and indigestion, black stool (poop) or vomiting blood, feeling bloated or gassy after eating, stomach pain (often above your belly button), feeling full even after eating a small meal or snack it’s time to be cautious because any of these can be an alarm for this morbid disease. As for GI cases, our experience preaches that in nine out of ten it is too late.

(The above article is written by Dr. P. N. Mohapatra, Director – Medical Oncology, Apollo Cancer Centre, Kolkata and Dr. Satadru Biwas, Associate Consultant, Apollo Cancer Centre, Kolkata.)