Although the end cause has not clearly been established, a series of factors involving diets (diets rich in animal fats and low in fibre), toxins (tobacco, alcohol, etc.) the environment, a lack of physical exercise, etc. that appear to be directly related to the increased incidence of colon and rectal cancer.
In addition to the aforementioned factors, there are a series of risk factors that have been proven to considerably increase the incidence of colon and rectal cáncer.
Among these is being older than 50 years of age, a personal and family background of polyps or colon cancer, intestinal inflammatory disease (ulcerative colitis and granulomatous colitis, or Crohn’s disease), and other specific hereditary factors and syndromes (such as familial adenomatous polyposis, Gardner’s syndrome, Turcot’s syndrome, and Lynch’s syndrome-hereditary colon cancer not associated to polyposis).
In any case, considering that there is currently no known final cause for colon and rectal cancer, it is important that, even though the individual may not meet any of the aforementioned requirements, if any abdominal discomfort should present itself, or alteration to the intestinal rhythm, or anal bleeding, contact a centre that specializes in the digestive system in order to perform the most appropriate study according to each case.