Keeping clear of colorectal disease. By the time you finish reading this article another person in this country will have died from colorectal cancer. According to estimates by the American Cancer Society, more than 55,000 Americans will die from this disease this year. That’s about one person every 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to be that way.

With an estimated 148,610 new cases each year, colorectal cancer—a term used to refer to cancer of either the colon or the rectum—is the second most common form of cancer in the United States. It is also the second largest cause of cancer deaths, which might seem logical until you consider that colorectal cancer is easily spotted through a routine diagnostic test, and when caught early, is more easily treated than many other types of cancers. In fact, when found early, the cure rate for this disease is greater than 90 percent.

One of the biggest obstacles to treating colorectal cancer is that most individuals avoid or postpone having the screening test for this disease. According to research published in the medical journal Cancer, only about half of those who are at risk for this disease ever undergo the recommended screening procedure. more >>