Colon Cancer Deaths Could Decrease
“Could” is the operative word. I took a break for a little while and then had some trouble finding some good headlines that made me jump up and down. This one does just that. Why? Because they always try to include some scare tactics in there. If red meat causes colon cancer, then why is it that no exclusive meat-eating populations have EVER had colon cancer? These people feel like they know science but they obviously don’t have a very good memory of history.
Keep in mind, that this drop in death rate is basically a prediction from some of the “experts” at the American Cancer Society. The estimate was made in an annual report that shows that, overall, the U.S. cancer death rate is continuing to decline, as it has since the 1990s.
The report was released on Monday and it focuses largely on cancers of the colon and rectum, which together are the third leading cancer killer in the United States. An estimated 50,000 people will die from it this year. The death rate dropped roughly 20 percent in the last 10 years, according to American Cancer Society figures.
The prediction assumes colon cancer screening and improved chemotherapy treatment will become more and more common, and colon cancer contributors like smoking and red meat consumption will decline.
The prediction is “optimistic but realistic,” said Elizabeth Ward, who oversees surveillance and health policy at the American Cancer Society.
But some other experts said such a large drop could require far-reaching changes in how many people eat a healthier diet, have health insurance and can get good medical care.
You can add me to the list of those who believe that this is highly optimistic rather than realistic. They still have no idea how colon cancer is caused and by continuing to single out red meat, they are not doing anyone any favors. I eat red meat on a daily basis and I am not the slightest bit concerned about colon cancer. Stop scoring your intestinal tracts with “whole grains” and fiber and you won’t have to worry about it either.
In this country, we have become very good at taking care of symptoms but not so good at prevention or cures. We give lip service to prevention by citing meaningless associations but we have no idea of true prevention since we have no cures.
While death rates from many of the major cancers have been declining, the rate for liver cancer has been increasing. In women, deaths from pancreatic cancer are rising. In men, esophageal cancer and melanoma deaths are increasing.
There are differences among different racial and ethnic groups. Overall, cancer death rates are highest in black men and women. But pancreatic cancer death rates have been increasing for whites and not blacks.
But overall, cancer diagnoses and death rates have declined significantly, a success attributed largely to improvements in screening and treatment and declines in smoking.
The colorectal cancer death rate was about 17 deaths per 100,000 people in 2006. Better chemotherapy drugs have been used along with surgery to improve survival. And as of 2005, about half of U.S. adults aged 50 or older had had a recommended screening, such as a colonoscopy within the last 10 years or a stool blood test within the last year.
“It seems to me that it’s a cascade of things that include medical science and technology advances,” said Dr. Michael Fisch, head of general oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
As I’ve written in this space many times, the diseases of civilization are ALWAYS more prevalent among the poorest individuals and to think that these people eat more red meat than others is simply foolish. Carbohydrates are cheap and inexpensive and a casual glance at practically any shopping basket in any food store will demonstrate to you what people actually eat.
Doctors say smoking and obesity contribute to colorectal cancer deaths, by increasing the odds of getting cancer or making treatment more difficult. While the U.S. adult smoking rate has gradually been declining for decades, the obesity rate has been climbing.
If that’s true, then that which contributes to obesity must also be implicated in cancer. People on my Discussion Forum eat red meat mostly every single day and are not at risk for cancer. Yet people who eat a diet high in carbohydrates continue to get more and more obese and thus are at risk for all the diseases of civilization. Those, are the facts.
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