CUT YOUR RISK OF BOWEL CANCER

PART TWO OF DR ELLIE CANNON’S BRILLIANT SERIES THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

IT’S frighteningly common and the second leading cause of cancer death, primarily because it causes few symptoms until the disease becomes advanced. Last week, in our special supplement, I brought you the advice of Britain’s top experts about how to cut the risk of breast and prostate cancer. Today we bring you the same cutting edge advice on the third most-common – bowel cancer.

The good news is that new figures, published in August by Cancer Research UK, showed the rate of people dying from this has fallen by more than 30 per cent in the last 20 years.

That’s an amazing achievement, which is down to screening and improvements in treatment.

But I want to see it fall further, not least because I lost a good friend to bowel cancer last year.

More than half of cases are preventable – there are positive steps we can all take to improve our daily lifestyle and reduce our chances of developing the disease. And by knowing other personal risk factors and taking part in the national bowel cancer screening programme available to those over the age of 60, we can further make sure that even if the worst does happen, we have the best chances of being well again.

From what to eat and what foods to avoid to myth busting and other tips, here’s all you need to know to protect yourself and your family...