Surviving AmericanSurviving
American Medicine

We all know that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. But recent evidence also shows that smoking increases the risk of colon and rectal cancer by 18 to 26% http://bit.ly/Vd8csw .

Importantly, the risk continued to be increased for up to 25 years after a person stopped smoking! In smokers, the risk of colon cancer was less if that person was not obese or if the person had above normal fruit intake.

Here are my tips for you:

• Do not smoke.
• If you smoke, ask your physician for help in smoking cessation.
• If you are now or have previously been a smoker, try to maintain normal body weight and eat more fruit, and get colonoscopy and stool blood screening from your doctor to prevent and detect colorectal cancer earlier.

For more encouragement in healthy habits, see my book Surviving American Medicine Chapter 12 You Have Only ONe Body – Take Care of It!

Now is the time to stop smoking