Bowel cancer awareness

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. In this blog, our intern Emily gives some key facts about bowel cancer including symptoms, bowel screening and reducing your risk.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer for both men and women. About 1 in 20 people will be diagnosed with bowel cancer in their lifetime. Over half of bowel cancers in the UK could be prevented by lifestyle changes.

We need to talk more about bowel cancer prevention to help reduce the number of people affected.

What is bowel cancer?
Most bowel cancer is found in the large bowel (colon or the rectum.) Cancers of the small bowel or anus are rarer.

Symptoms of bowel cancer
It’s important to be aware of changes that could be a sign of bowel cancer. You should see your GP if you have:

• bleeding from your back passage
• changes in your bowel habits which last more than three weeks
• a pain or lump in your tummy
• loss of weight or appetite
• unexplained tiredness.

What can you do to reduce your risk?
Over half of bowel cancers in the UK could be prevented by lifestyle changes. To reduce your risk of bowel cancer and other cancers you could:

• Eat a healthy diet - you should eat foods that are high in fibre. Fibre is found in wholegrain bread and pasta, beans and oatmeal. Try to to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Limit how much salt, red meat and processed meat you eat.
• Keep physically active - you should try to do at least two and a half hours exercise a week. This can be split into 10 to 30 minute sessions through the week. You can increase these times as you get used to exercising. You don’t have to go to the gym to keep active. Regular walking, cycling or swimming can be enough.
• Keep to a healthy weight - your GP or practice nurse can talk to you about the ideal weight for your height. The best way to lose weight is by eating a healthy diet and being more active.
• Limit how much alcohol you drink - drinking more than the recommended amount of alcohol can increase your risk of bowel cancer. The NHS guidelines suggest that both men and women should not regularly drink more than 14 units of alcohol in a week, and should try to have several alcohol-free days every week.
• Give up smoking - if you smoke, giving up is the single most important thing you can do for your health. Ask your GP for advice about this or contact your national stop smoking service.

Bowel screening
Screening aims to find changes in your bowel before cancer develops or to find cancer at an earlier stage. If bowel cancer is found early, there is a 9 in 10 (90%) chance it can be cured. Screening programmes are offered in the UK:

• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, screening is offered every two years to people aged between 60-74.
• In Scotland, screening is offered every two years to people aged 50-74.

People older than 74 should talk to their GP if they would still like to have bowel screening.

There is more information about this in our booklet Understanding bowel cancer screening.

If you are worried about bowel cancer it is important to visit your doctor. You may be embarrassed to talk about bowel problems, but doctors have these types of conversations every day. You can also call our cancer support specialists on 0808 808 00 00. 

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

We're with you every step of the way

The Macmillan team is here to help. Our cancer support specialists can answer your questions, offer support, or simply listen if you need a chat. Call us free on 0808 808 00 00.

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