Colorectal cancer can affect anyone, but healthy choices and timely testing can help reduce risk. Colorectal cancers are among the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer in the U.S., with more than 150,000 new cases expected in 2025, according to the American Cancer Society. “The colon and the rectum both make up the large intestine,” says Peter Stanich, MD, a gastroenterologist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). “Often, we shorten that to just ‘colon cancer,’ but really, that includes both colon and rectal cancers.” Colorectal cancer risk factors There are many potential causes of colorectal cancers, some of which involve the choices we make every day. “I always say, the things you think are bad for you probably cause colorectal cancer — smoking tobacco, more than one alcoholic drink a day, being overweight, a poor diet, a sedative lifestyle — all of those things increase risk,” Stanich says. Click to learn more about colon and rectal cancer, including risks, symptoms and treatment options at The Ohio State University. Reducing risk doesn’t mean people should feel the need to cut all unhealthy foods out of their diets, though. The key, according to Stanich, is moderation. “It doesn't mean that if you're at a baseball game you can't get a hot dog, you just probably don’t want to eat a hot dog every day, or certainly not three times a day,” Stanich says while emphasizing that lifestyle only accounts for a portion of colorectal cancer risk. “Even people who run marathons and eat right are still at risk for colorectal cancer.” Among those non-lifestyle risks are genetic factors, most notably Lynch syndrome, a mutation that can greatly increase the risk of multiple cancers. “The risk for the average person with no family history is about 4 percent, but for someone with an inherited genetic mutation, such as Lynch syndrome, the risk increases to as much as 80 percent,” Stanich says. “For people with no family history of colorectal cancer, screenings are recommended to start at the age of 45, but for patients with Lynch syndrome, we start screenings at around 20 or 25.” The presence of polyps also raises risk, but just because they’re there, it doesn’t mean that colorectal cancer will develop, especially not quickly. “Even if there's a small polyp, it's very unlikely to turn into cancer over ten years,” Stanich says. “But, we know that if we go and remove them, we reduce that long term risk.” Click here to learn how The James Colorectal Cancer Center is changing care and research. The importance of colorectal cancer screening Doctors discover polyps through colonoscopy screenings, which have led to significant successes in the prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer since their widespread adoption. “Since we started doing colonoscopy screenings in the mid-1990s, the number of deaths has been going down,” Stanich says. Testing tech has progressed since the introduction of the colonoscopy, though, with kits that now allow patients to start the screening process at home. “Sometimes people can’t get a day off work or they just don’t want to do a colonoscopy, but there are now fecal immunochemical tests, or FITs, which you do every year, and stool DNA tests, which are done every three years,” Stanich says. “Those are shown to reduce the risk of death from colon cancer and are certainly good tests if you prefer them over a colonoscopy or you can't get a colonoscopy done. “We always say the best colorectal cancer screening test is the one that a patient will do.” Click here to learn more about cancer screening and diagnosis at the OSUCCC – James.