What. A. Scorcher! June, eh? Who thought it would have been like this?
This month, a study was released that states that men who eat two portions of yoghurt a week are less likely to develop bowel cancer. Though it must be stated it’s not clear if the yoghurt itself is lowering the risk, or lifestyle and habits associated with a lower risk. Do people who eat more yoghurt also happen to eat less red meat? However, yoghurt does have a number of bacteria which can help lower harmful chemicals in the gut. This study doesn’t provide enough data to definitively say we should be eating more yoghurt, but being more aware of what we eat, especially high fibre and less meat can have an impact bowel cancer risk.
We’ll be presenting our BCAM (bowel cancer awareness measurement) study at the Public Health Conference this September! A poster for our study which explains how we worked with pharmacies to gauge how much their customers are aware about bowel cancer risks and symptoms, as well as their attitudes and knowledge on bowel cancer screening. This study is the first of its kind on this scale, so we’ll be looking forward to presenting it in September.
One of the points we received from a patient feedback group recently, was that they would like a way to communicate with other people who have had the procedure. With this they can share tips and advice to others about what they’ve been through and help make them feel more comfortable. So, we’ve listened and put a forum page on our website! Our forum is designed for people who have attended a bowel scope or completed a home-testing kit to speak about their experiences, and for those who haven’t to ask questions. We’re hoping the forum becomes an active community, and for that we need everyone’s input. If it doesn’t answer your particular question right now, then please do post it. If there is something you would like others to know, then please do put that up also.
We have also introduced our new segment; Let's Talk About. Where we go explain the different aspects to how we work and bowel cancer screening generally. We've started off by talking about our community interventions, that that actually means and why we do it. You can find it here!
That’s it for this month! Thank you for making it to the end. I’m gonna whack on the AC now.
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