What Guys Are Saying About Their Health

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Just about every man has cancer on his radar screen, and knows that prostate cancer is a justifiable concern. But the third leading type of male cancer often gets overlooked--cancer of the colon and rectum, or colorectal cancer.

As you may already know, genetics plays a significant role in the risk for colon cancer: it's a fact that Ashkenazi Jews, along with first-degree relatives of anyone who has had colon cancer at a young age (before 50), are at much higher risk than the general population. You'll be glad to know that colon cancer is one of the easiest cancers to prevent, because the most important risk factors seem to be age and diet. Reduce your risk by scheduling screenings with your medical practitioner, and make some important lifestyle adjustments.

Action Rx:

• Keep your digestive tract in good working order. It's a well-known fact that a fiber-rich diet filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and meatless protein sources (such as tofu) is correlated with reducing cancer risks. In addition, specific foods have been correlated with cancer risk reductions and other healing powers. The easiest guideline: Add vivid color to your diet and you'll be adding foods rich in healthful carotenoids--tomatoes, carrots, cantaloupe, broccoli, spinach, and other greens.

  Seafoods, whole grains, and nuts are high in selenium, which is believed to help reduce the incidence of colon cancer. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that after subjects took 200 milligrams of selenium daily for four and a half years, the incidence of cancer for all subjects was reduced by 50 percent, especially for prostate cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.

• Get regular exercise and practice stress management. Reduce stress load through exercise such as yoga or tai chi. In a study of older adults, tai chi, the ancient low-intensity Chinese exercise, was found to reduce blood pressure nearly as much as did moderate-intensity exercise.

• Go for regular medical tests. Get a colonoscopy every ten years. This may literally save your life: most colon cancers can be identified as precancerous polyps, and these are often easy to remove during simple surgeries. Excising the polyp usually prevents it from turning into a cancer. You should also have an annual stool sample test after the age of 50, to check for occult blood (yes, it's uncomfortable but worth it). Many studies show that this is a highly effective screening test for colon cancer that saves lives.