Beware: Colon Cancer Screening Can Kill
Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
There has been much publicity in recent days given to the risks of colon cancer. Some of the publicity has revolved around a BBC newsreader who has colon cancer and who apparently believes that earlier screening might have spotted his cancer earlier.
Maybe.
But there are two things I have not seen mentioned anywhere.
First, colon cancer screening involves a colonoscopy – which means having a pipe pushed up the colon so that the examining doctor can check for abnormalities. This is not without risk. The anaesthetic which will be needed can kill. And if the pipe perforates the bowel wall that too can be lethal. These are important points which should not be ignored.
Second, I have not seen anyone mention that the diet is a major cause of colon cancer. And the one food that is known to cause cancer is meat. If you don’t want to develop cancer of the colon then you can dramatically reduce your chances of getting it by avoiding meat – particularly red meat.
If you want to see the evidence for this, you can see abstracts of 26 scientific papers showing the connection between food and cancer in my book Food for Thought which is available as an ebook on Amazon.
Copyright Vernon Coleman 2018
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