How can you help prevent colon cancer?

Prevention is a combination of reducing avoidable risk and detecting abnormal bowel tissue before it becomes invasive cancer. Colonoscopy can allow a clinician to inspect the bowel and remove some growths during the same procedure. Your age, family history, inherited conditions, previous bowel findings and general health affect when screening is appropriate.

Regular movement, a varied diet rich in fibre, avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol and maintaining a weight that is healthy for you may support bowel health. These steps do not remove every risk, so they work alongside screening rather than replacing it.

Ask a clinician which screening test and schedule fit your personal and family history. Tell them about blood in the stool, a lasting change in bowel habit, unexplained weight loss, or persistent abdominal discomfort. Keep a record of close relatives with bowel cancer or advanced polyps, and mention inflammatory bowel disease or known inherited cancer syndromes.

If screening finds a suspicious area, further testing may identify the tissue type and guide care. Treatment pages covering Bowel Cancer, Colonoscopy and Bowel Resection can help you understand the possible pathway.

Arrange medical assessment for rectal bleeding, black stools, a new persistent bowel change, ongoing abdominal pain, unusual tiredness, or weight loss without trying. Seek urgent help for heavy bleeding, fainting, severe abdominal pain, or repeated vomiting. These symptoms have many possible causes; they should be assessed because symptoms alone cannot establish a cancer diagnosis.

Which screening option is suitable for me, and when should it begin? Does my family history change the plan? What symptoms should prompt an earlier appointment? If a test is abnormal, what happens next?