By Ng Bao Ying, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : If you have diabetes, your chances of developing colorectal cancer could be about 50 percent higher than those who do not have the illness.
This recent finding by NUS researchers supports what previous studies have already suggested.
According to the study diabetics with bad dietary habits and little exercise, as well as those who have a more common form of the illness, called type 2 diabetes, have a higher chance of developing colorectal cancer.
Said Associate Professor Adeline Seow of NUS' Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, "This will have indications about how they ask advice from doctors, meaning being more aware of their condition. The good news is that among diabetics, with maintaining a good diet, body weight, having an active lifestyle and reducing calorie intake where appropriate, one can modulate their risk of colorectal cancer."
More specifically, one should cut down on eating red meat, and exercise more to reduce risk.
Some 63,000 Chinese Singaporeans contributed to this study, which began in 1993.
Despite race limitations the findings can still be applicable to all.
Said Assistant Professor Koh Woon Puay of NUS' Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, "We wanted to assemble a homogenous group of participants because of dietary factors they wanted to examine. It would be difficult to look at diet across ethnic groups."
Unlike other medical studies, this one is less laboratory based, and focuses more on data gathering.
Between 1993 and now, NUS researchers have been continually surveying and compiling information from interviews with participants.
Said Professor Koh, "The goal of the study is to establish a long-term stable cohort of dietary, genetic, environmental factors that affect the risk of chronic diseases that affect the population in Singapore, and worldwide."
This study will continue for as long as possible into the future. - CNA /ct
