Colon cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the United States. While traditionally a disease of older adults, we are sadly seeing an increase in colon cancer incidence and mortality in young people. Screening for colon polyps with regular colonoscopies is an important way to access your risk of developing colorectal cancer. But what are colon polyps, why do we develop them, and how can we prevent them from forming in the first place?
In this episode, Dr. Hyman sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Boham to discuss the Functional Medicine approach to preventing and treating colon polyps. They dive into the importance of eating an anti-inflammatory diet and optimizing gut health to create a terrain in the body where cancer is less likely to grow.
Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices Functional Medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing, she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Boham has contributed to many articles and wrote the latest chapter on Obesity for the Rankel Textbook of Family Medicine. She is part of the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been featured on the Dr. Oz show and in a variety of publications and media including Huffington Post, The Chalkboard Magazine, and Experience Life. Her DVD Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer explores the Functional Medicine approach to keeping your breasts and whole body well.
This episode is sponsored by ButcherBox and Paleovalley.
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Dr Mark Hyman is doing awesome job and promoting healthy life style. Great job!
What spices do you use that would be safe for IBS-C?
my concern is constant procedures that may create new issues. The procedure to carry it out involves a laxative type solution that is not good for the body. To put pressure and stress on a patient where this may increase their BP and anxiety levels. Putting pressure on the heart is not helpful at all. I have witnessed it and regretted it. Someone who has many health issues, comorbidities, would be affected by this. If a woman has had something like a hysterectomy, that may have created new issues and a colonoscopy probe will be unable to go up all the colon. Educate and keep educating those that need to change diet and lifestyle.
Have you looked into the over 90s and seen if they had so many procedures carried out? Have you studied this group of adults where some seem to live good lives?
I had a weird feeling in my abdomen, the only way to describe it was like a mild electrical impulse, I went to 3 different gastroenterologists, and since I’d had a colonoscopy about a year before (with polyps) they prescribed more flax and fiber. Finally a 4th doctor decided to do another colonoscopy and he found 2 villous ademomas, which were large and could have been serious with more time. He also said the flax seeds were causing spasms and to stop eating them. The electrical feeling was completely gone and I am sure this doctor saved my life. Get your colonoscopy and find a doctor who will listen to you.
glad you found a doctor that helped you. that is the problem, finding a doctor that actually sees a person sitting there and not some symptoms to medicate. Doctors that will say “let’s find the culprit that is causing this” is rare
The thing about cancer is there are hundreds of types of cancer that can kill a person. It is impossible to screen for every one of them before it is too late. If one of the body’s 10 trillion cells goes wacky somewhere in the body, and they find it and cut it out, that’s good. But the same behaviors and conditions that caused that DNA damage is likely happening in many other cells. The best things we can do to prevent cancer are eat an anticancer diet, don’t smoke, don’t drink heavily, do moderate exercise, and be careful of the environments that we live and work in.
Can food allergies contribute to the development of polyps?
Thanks so much for this topic.
Are there symptoms when you have polyps?
No, I’ve had them a couple of times.
Larger polyps can cause bleeding, cramps, or obstruction, but most don’t. It can take 10 years for a polyp to turn cancerous. It’s best to have them removed long before that.
If you were to do an interview with Gabor Mate on illness, that would be amazing! He teaches on the emotional component of illness. Thank you for all you do, Dr. Hyman!
I wish we had Doctors like these 2 in our community. Here all they want to do is push pain pills and anti depressants. Big pharma at its best.
geesh i wonder who is the lucky guy who gets five bacon strips
I had stage 4 rectal/colon cancer in 2019, so they took everything in my pelvic area which includes my blader. The surgery resulted in no cancer, but I paid the price to a urostomy and a colonostomy. They say I’m not suppose to eat much fiber. I have been diagnosed with UC, and I had 3 polups they removed recently, the report said I had a few diverticula with mixed opening. Im trying to follow a plant based diet, but I have addictions that I keep feeding. :o(
There are many, many kinds of fiber.
Thank you. Very informative
I also find it amazing that the “broccoli family” didn’t exist until about 500 years ago, and has really only been in the US diet for about 100 years. What a coincidence that a whole plant family that we invented could literally be so beneficial???
POMEGRANATE IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST FRUITS HIGH IN SUGAR!!