Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada Blog
Posts tagged Resources
A screening and treatment “webinar” with C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition
Jun 18th
On June 21 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition will be hosting a free web seminar, reporting on findings from Digestive Diseases Week, the Oncology Nursing Society Congress and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.
Speakers include Kim Ryan, Director of Patient Information Services at C3, and Kate Murphy, Director of Research Research Communication at C3 and Manager of the ACOR.org Colon List.
Click here to register for the one-hour session.
Canada-wide resources for healthy eating
Jun 15th
You’ve likely grown up hearing about the Canada’s Food Guide, but did you know that it’s now available in ten additional languages? Or that each individual province has its own set of resources to help you eat nutritiously and maintain a healthy weight?
- In addition to the HealthLink site, British Colombians can connect with a Registered Dietitian by dialing 8-1-1, or 7-1-1 for the hearing impaired.
- The province of Alberta maintains its own site concerned with nutrition and exercise: www.healthyalberta.com. It includes condition-specific guidelines for healthy eating.
- Saskatchewan’s Healthline has very in-depth section on weight management and nutrition, as well as testimonials from real Saskatchewanians.
- Manitoba offers healthy eating guidelines for adults and senior citizens, including a helpful guide to reading nutrition labels.
- Ontario residents can visit eatrightontario.ca, or speak with a Registered Dietician by calling 1-877-510-5102. The service is available in English, French and over 100 other languages.
- Quebec’s diet and nutrition site has a wealth of information, including a separate site for all your concerns regarding diabetes and comprehensive information relating to nutrition in pregnancy. In French only.
- New Brunswick’s program, Healthy Eating Physical Activity Coalition (HEPAC, or CSAAP en français) hosts web seminars and has a comprehensive links list for educating members of your school, workplace or household.
- Nova Scotia’s Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention site has a section with healthy eating links, and you may also be interested in 2005’s Healthy Eating Nova Scotia strategy.
- Newfoundland has a section on their provincial site dedicated to healthy eating links. You may also be interested in perusing a report entitled Eating Healthier in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Islanders can benefit from educational resources and health-conscious recipes provided by Prince Edward Island’s Healthy Eating Alliance.
- The Yukon’s nutrition site has a number of ideas for healthful eating, including many suggestions for managing the dietary needs of school-age children.
- Nunavut has released Nutrition in Nunavut: A Framework for Action, as well as its territory-specific Healthy Eating in Nunavut guide.
- The Northwest Territories hosts a page on Healthy Eating/Active Living, with links based on your age group’s needs.
For additional guidelines, consult the CCAC’s nutritional guide to decrease your colorectal cancer risk!
You may also be interested in finding a Registered Dietitian near you.
Stress may trigger of bowel disease symptoms, plus tips for reducing stress from the BC Cancer Agency
Apr 16th
“Canadian researchers found that among 552 bowel-disease patients they followed for a year, the risk of a symptom flare-up increased when patients were feeling particularly stressed.
The findings, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, lend support to what many people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have believed to be true.
IBD refers to a group of conditions marked by chronic inflammation in the intestines, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea. The major forms are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.” (Amy Norton, Reuters)
Read the full Canada.com article here.
Some evidence suggests that those predisposed to conditions like those listed above have an increased risk for developing colorectal cancer. Managing stress is important for your overall health, including that of your digestive system. Stressed out about an upcoming procedure? Are you experiencing the stress that may come when caring for a loved one? The BC Cancer Agency has published a Managing Stress section of their website where you can learn to reduce stress levels for a more happy, healthy you.
How do you manage your stress?
Colorectal cancer increasing in young adults? Plus, resources for young adult patients
Apr 5th
“The reality is that cancer is a leading cause of
death for young adults, but this fact has not
catalyzed the medical community to focus on
the [young adult] population the way it has rallied to treat
older adults and children with cancer. In 2002,
almost 68,000 people aged 15 to 39 years were
diagnosed with cancer, approximately eight
times more than children under age 15.”
-Closing the Gap: A Strategic Plan. Published by the National Cancer Institute’s Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Progress Review Group and the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Livestrong Young Adult Alliance.
A ScienceDaily article directed us to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, which found that American colorectal cancer incidence rates were on the rise for those under 50, even though overall incidence rates were decreasing. Why?
If you’re colon-conscious, you may not be shocked at the possible explanations:
The researchers address several possibilities for the rise, including rising rates of obesity, which is a major risk factor for colorectal cancer. Dietary factors may also come into play. The researchers note that between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, fast-food consumption in the United States increased 5-fold among children and 3-fold among adults. A diet high in fast food is associated with both greater meat consumption and reduced milk consumption. Increased consumption of red and processed meat has been shown to increase risk of cancers of the distal colon and rectum, while milk and calcium consumption have shown a protective effect against the subsites in which the rise in incidence was most prominent. They say it is plausible that the emergence of unfavorable dietary patterns in children and young adults over the past three decades may have contributed to the increase in CRC among young adults observed in the study.
While being 50+ is still the biggest risk factor, the fact remains that colorectal cancer may not be as picky as you think. It wasn’t until recently that I learned how many of my twenty-something acquaintances were already getting screened because they had lost a parent or other close relative to colorectal cancer. It makes me wonder how many more might have some genetic pre-disposition to the disease without knowing it.
We are so fortunate to live in a country where establishing population-based screening for those 50+ is a more attainable goal than ever before. Widespread screening is one of the reasons that colorectal cancer rates are stablizing, and perhaps someday we will lower the age to 40 or even 30+.
In the meantime, taking care of your body in your teens and twenties can and will go a long way to being a healthy adult at 50 years old. We urge you to limit your intake of red meat, processed food and alcohol, while enjoying regular exercise and a diet high in nutritious food. Click here to see the CCAC’s nutrition guidelines.
Click here to read the original journal article: Siegel et al. Increase in Incidence of Colorectal Cancer Among Young Men and Women in the United States.Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 2009; 18 (6)
It’s National Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week.
After the cut, read up on just a few of the many organizations focusing on the needs of young adults living with cancer.
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