Colon cancer levels in people under the age of 50 are increasing. James Kinross, a gastrointestinal surgeon who is looking for how the intestinal microbiome affects our risk of illness, believes that “an internal climate crisis” among the inhabitants of Western countries could be partly to blame.
But “the donation of the intestinal microbiome is that you can change it,” said Kinross, referring to the billions of microbes that populate our digestive system, and what research has an extensive effect on our health. “This is an ecosystem that you can adapt,” the researcher told the Imperial College London.
To reduce its own risk of developing colon cancer, the second most deadly form of cancer disease in the United States, Kinross follows food principles, including vegetarian diet. However, as Bi previously reported it, a person’s diet is only a piece of the puzzle with regard to the risk of colon cancer.
Environmental factors such as ultra-transformed foods, the use of antibiotics, which kill intestinal bacteria, microplastics and exposure limited to nature, would have made our intestinal microbiomas less diverse, he said. This means that it is less healthy and resilient.
He gave the example of a child born by cesarean, which means missing microbes which would have been transmitted via the birth channel, to a mother whose intestinal microbiome is exhausted by Antibiotics, and nourished an ultra-transformed food diet, he said.
“You see a generational loss in our internal ecology, which is hammered with a series of environmental tubes to which it simply cannot adapt,” said Kinross.
The consequence is “a very unhappy microbiome”, which produces harmful molecules and toxins that affect the risk of colon cancer, he said.
Kinross shared how he eats to reduce his risk of colon cancer.
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Eat 30 grams of fiber per day
“What I really want in my instinct is diversity,” said Kinross, “and the way you get it to have a very good diverse diet which is really rich in fibers.”
Fibers are found in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains, and studies suggest that a diversified intestinal microbiome is linked to a range of health benefits, such as a strong immune system.
Kinross aims to eat 30 grams of dietary fiber per day, as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration. He tries to “eat the rainbow”, ensuring that his plate is filled with plant foods of many different colors and, therefore, nutrients.
Follow a vegetarian diet
The search has found a solid link between the processed diet and red meats and the risk of colon cancer, so Kinross tries to follow as much as possible a vegetarian diet.
A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology examined data of around 500,000 people over a period of seven years to assess whether meat consumption has affected their risk of cancer. He found that those who ate 79 grams of red or processed meat, or the equivalent of three slices of cold meat per day, presented a risk of colon cancer 32% higher than those who ate less than 11 grams.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Cancer Research Agency of the World Health Organization, classified transformed meat as a “defined” cause of cancer and red meat as a “probable” cause.
“I do not necessarily believe that we must all be vegetarians, but I think that meat consumption is a large part of our problem,” he said, referring to the increase in colon cancer cases.
Eat fermented foods daily
Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha, contain probiotics, “good” bacteria that live in the intestine.
Kinross eating a portion daily, because research suggests that they can improve the diversity of the intestinal microbiome. A study in 2021 of the University of Stanford revealed that people who ate a diet rich in fermented food for 10 weeks had microbiomes even more diverse than those who ate a diet rich in fiber.
His Go-to are sourdough bread and Kimchi, a Korean fermented cabbage dish.
“My daughter is completely obsessed with Kimchi. She does a lot. We always have a big bucket in our house,” he said.
“They must be part of your regular food consumption, if not, microbes simply do not make culture and transplant in your intestine,” he said.
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