Sarah on… BOWEL CANCER

More than 41,200 new cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK and numbers are increasing. The lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer is now

1 in 19 for women and 1 in 14 for men.

The causes are not fully known but ageing, family history, being overweight, alcohol and smoking all play a role. Some studies suggest that eating lots of red and processed meat also increases the risks.

Your bowels only have a few ways of letting you know when something is wrong, so don’t ignore any persistent symptoms such as bleeding from the bottom; blood in your stools; a change in bowel habit that lasts three weeks or more; unexplained weight loss; or pain or a lump in the abdomen.

Bowel cancer is treatable if diagnosed early, so take advantage of bowel cancer screening, which can detect early cancers and pre-cancerous polyps that are not yet causing symptoms. If you’re over 60 (50 in Scotland), you’ll be invited for bowel cancer screening every two years until the age of 74. Those over 74 can still take part by requesting a screening kit.

A new bowel cancer screening test will soon be introduced, which uses immune testing as a more reliable way to detect hidden blood in stools.

Visit bowelcanceruk.org.uk.