Causes

Who is more likely to get bowel cancer

It's not always known what causes bowel cancer, but it can be caused by genetic changes, lifestyle and environmental factors.

Having certain health conditions can also make you more likely to get bowel cancer.

You may be more likely to get bowel cancer if:

you're over 50
you smoke
you're overweight
a close relative has had bowel cancer
you have inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
you have small growths in your bowel called bowel polyps
you have Lynch syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)

Find out more

Risks and causes of bowel cancer (Cancer Research UK)

How to lower your risk of bowel cancer

You cannot always prevent bowel cancer, but there are things you can do to lower your chance of getting it.

Do

eat a healthy diet including at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day
stay active and exercise regularly
lose weight if you're overweight
quit smoking
drink less alcohol
eat less red and processed meat

You can find out more about preventing bowel cancer on the World Cancer Research Fund website.

It's important to get any symptoms of bowel cancer checked by a GP.

Sexual Health Advice

Throughout this series we have help and advice on staying healthy, dealing with Sexually Transmitted Infections, the risks of each type of the most popular gay sex and what to do if the sex you have is not consentual. The topics covered in this series include:

	This item was in brought to you association with NHS website. Follow the links above for more information and don't forget to check out OutUK's A to Z of Gay Health which features items on everything from relationships, sexual health, mental and physical conditions and how to stay fit. This week our topic is: L - Lung Cancer.
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