Dr. Mehmet Oz FEEL YOUR BEST
A Test That
Saved My Life
This past June I reached
an important milestone:
I turned 50. After all the
festivities, one gift still
awaited me: my first routine colonoscopy.
I understood the im-
portance of colon cancer
screening for both men
and women, but I had no
other risk factors. I’m not
overweight; I don’t smoke;
my diet consists mostly of
high-fiber, low-fat foods;
and I have no family histo-
ry of colon cancer. I prob-
ably would have delayed
the screening for months,
except that I’d committed
on my television show to
undergoing the test. So
I was shocked when my
gastroenterologist found
an adenomatous polyp,
the kind that sometimes
develops into cancer. More
than 50,000 Americans
will die of colon cancer
this year. My doctor told
me my good health habits
undoubtedly lowered my
risk, since he found only
one polyp. But simply do-
ing what I was told to do
at 50—get a colonoscopy—
allowed me to have the
polyp removed and possi-
bly dodge a bullet. If I had
waited, the consequences
could have been severe.
COLON CANCER BY THE NUMBERS
102,900
New cases
of colon
cancer
diagnosed
in 2010
51,370
Deaths
from
colon
cancer
in 2010
90%
Survival
rate when
cancer is
treated
early
40%
Number
of colon
cancers
found
early
and the surgeon wanted to
be sure he hadn’t missed
anything. The second
time around, I maintained
a clear-liquid diet for 24
hours before the procedure.
For most people with one
or two small, precancerous
Health News
Vitamin D may lower cancer risk
Don’t skimp on vitamin D: Low levels may be linked to colon cancer. One
theory is that cells need vitamin D to undergo a process called apoptosis—
or programmed cell death. If a cell goes awry (becomes precancerous), it
normally will kill itself. If it doesn’t, it can become cancerous. To boost your
vitamin D levels, I recommend that everyone get 10 minutes of sun exposure
a day, plus 1,000 international units of vitamin D3 as a supplement. —M.O.
polyps, including me, the
next colonoscopy should be
in five years (three years for
bigger polyps or multiple
polyps). For people with
benign polyps or no polyps,
a colonoscopy is recommended every 10 years.
But don’t miss that first
one—at age 45 for African
Americans, and age 50 for
most others. Evidence suggests the first colonoscopy
has the biggest effect on
reducing the incidence of
colon cancer in patients
with precancerous polyps.
