How likely are my sister and I to develop colon or bowel cancer?

Our Mum died of bowel cancer(she ignored the symptoms); my aunt has just been diagnosed with a small colon cancer which fortunately is operable and she will recover. My Mum and aunt are both small women of very light build, neither of whom had a diet rich in either nutrients or roughage. Both had a lot of stress.Mum did put on weight in middle age, aunt is underweight. Sis and I are both taller, fairly lean(I have a little tummy fat); we are 48 and 56 respectively.Our diets are extremely high in nutrients and roughage, we eat loads of fruit and veg, drink lots of water and green tea, eat only lean meats and fish, plus wholegrains. I have recently been tested for bowel cancer and it was negative. We both intend to be tested regularly. How would you rate our chances of getting this type of cancer?

So many very good comments so far - all good sense, good information, thanks to those who included links; will be very hard to pick a best answer!

Yeah, I agree with healthwriter. Guys like Dr. Dean Ornish here http://www.rd.com/content/dr-dean-ornish... says that "the more people changed their diet and lifestyle, the more improvement we measured. In order to reverse disease, people needed to make much bigger changes than most doctors had been recommending."

Your tax dollars paid for Dr. T. Colin Campbell's studies on nutrition as he worked with the NIH, ACS and AICR for more than 40 years. He used the scientific method to determine the findings written in his book, The China Study. He says things like "a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness" on page 3. He says on page 7, "people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease." And, one of my favorites is on page 3, "[cancer and disease] all come down to three things: breakfast, lunch and dinner."

There's many that will tell you they ate well and still developed cancer. But apparently it wasn't enough, or they wouldn't have developed an immune system disorder like cancer. Just remember what Anne Frahm said on page 45 of A Cancer Battle Plan - "I had always thought I was eating a good, healthy diet." She ended up with stage 4 metastasized breast cancer. I'm not telling you if you eat well you won't get cancer, but I am telling you that you can dramatically reduce your risk of disease. Ann Fonfa at http://www.annieappleseedproject.com said that it took both diet and herbs to keep tumors from developing, but she unfortuanately didn't find what worked until after a double mastectomy.

The best thing you can do is educate yourself and follow guidelines of those with success like Anne Frahm and Ann Fonfa. And not rush into poisonous therapies unless it's critical - see what works for you first and try to first prevent it and when or if you get cancer, try to reverse it naturally first. That way you don't end up with some amputation or surgical mutilation and you walk away healthy instead of suffering with the poisonous side effects of drugs like organ damage, fatigue, memory loss, and a high probability of a cancer relapse after your immune system has been rendered helpless. See my post here for more info - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?... .

Even though there is no evidence written in stone, the fact that your mother and aunt both developed cancer does raise yours and your sisters chances. You could either live a healthy life, or develop cancer yourself, you can never really be sure. But I think the steps that you both are taking are a g good start - eating healthy and getting regular checkups. Talk to a doctor about your family's history and see if there's any other preventative care you can take on.

Having a family history of cancer doesn鈥檛 necessarily increase your risk of developing cancer yourself.

Cancer Research UK says bowel cancer can run in families 鈥?but your family history increases your risk only if a close relative (father, mother, brother, sister or child) developed bowel cancer before they were 45 years old; or two close relatives have had bowel cancer at any age

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/defaul...

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/defaul...

Talk to your doctor about any inherited risk and any checks you may need.

Sounds like you're doing all the right things.

You need to do one more thing: cherish each day and the loved ones in your life.

Even doing all the right things, one day you can hear the dreaded words. Because 1 in 3 people end up getting some form of cancer in their lives.

No one, not even a doctor can answer your question with 100% accuracy. Do not rely on statics, or blood tests as they can have false negatives and false positives. I was diagnosed at 34 with colon cancer. Stage 2. I had surgery and chemotherapy. I have a yearly colonoscopy as should you and your sister. During this procedure if there is a polyp it can be removed and tested. Colon cancer starts as a polyp and it takes between 5 to 10 years to develop into cancer. At least that is what the statics say. Eat what you want! Get tested yearly! God bless you both.

People who have the gene for bowel/colon cancer are inclined to grow polyps in their bowel (the cancer grows from the polyp).

If you were checked and had no sign of polyps at your age, the likelihood of you starting to grow them now is fairly small. So there's a good chance you haven't inherited the gene.

If you have close relations that have had bowel cancer, then the risk of developing one yourself is higher. This does not mean that you will definitely get one, however. Much depends on your diet and lifestyle habits.

I doubt that anyone can truly quantify your chance of getting bowel cancer. But what you are doing sounds a very pretty and sound plan to me.

To keep up-to-date on bowel cancer news and research, you should also read up more about this disease http://www.healthandwellnesscentral.com/...