HEALTH

The big C is still a taboo subject in conversation. according to latest research.

Polling shows 41% of Brits feel comfortable talking to an ex- lover in the street, 47% are happy to chat about religion – but only 38% feel the same about a discussion on cancer.

More worryingly, 40% of people do not know how to check for cancer symptoms.

Paul Finch, chief of bowel cancer charity Red Trouser Day, said: “Over a third of people will be affected by it at some stage in their lives.

“It’s vital we get more comfortable talking about the disease and the symptoms so we can detect and tackle it faster.

“You might think it’s awkward talking about the bowel cancer symptoms such as maroon-coloured poo.

“But it’s a hundred times more difficult to go through surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy because you were too shy to talk about it and get it checked in the early stages.”

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome who follow personalised diets based on food sensitivity testing experience fewer symptoms, researchers have found. The US study is among the first to provide scientific evidence for this medicationfree approach. As many as one in five adults meet the criteria for IBS, a disorder that can cause chronic abdominal pain, gas, diarrhoea, and constipation.

Patients often try “elimination diets” based on blood tests that claim to identify foods that trigger their symptoms.

And many seem to work despite not being validated by rigorous study, researchers at Yale University said.

Of 58 patients studied, those who followed the diet cutting out foods pinpointed by blood tests suffered fewer symptoms.

Researcher Ather Ali said: “We didn’t expect results like this.”

MARTIN BAGOT is the Mirror’s Health Correspondent