There's a small study that suggests the type of diet you choose to help you lose weight, a worthy goal to be sure, might also have an impact on colon health. The research included 17 men classified as obese who the team discovered had colon changes that may, given time, contribute to dangerous colon cancer. We do know that diet plays a role in this disease; eating high fat, low fiber foods and diets high in protein are often blamed for increasing your risk.

When it comes to losing weight and eating healthy, cancer risk is probably the farthest thing from your mind. This research gives you something to think about when it comes to choosing the right eating plan for dropping those extra pounds.

It's important to understand that this research examined only short time shifts in some compounds that are produced during metabolism. This isn't the same thing as disease risk. The research doesn't show conclusively that high protein/low carbohydrate diets increase the risk of diseases of the colon, but it's certainly possible.

To be considered a high protein/low carb diet, you should be getting from 30% to 50% of your daily calories from protein. This is thought to put the body into a different metabolic state (ketosis) where you burn your own fat for fuel. Your body makes a switch from a carbohydrate-burning engine to a fat burning one. Some of the risks that come with this type of diet include kidney failure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, kidney stones, and more.

The researchers are worried that the risks of colon cancer could be raised if you stick with these high protein eating plans over the long term.

The subjects in this study each followed three different short-term diets. One week was designed to keep their weight the same, then they followed a high protein diet for four weeks with moderate (181 grams/day) levels of carbs and a high protein diet that was low (22 grams/day) in carbs.

When each diet stage was completed the team analyzed stool samples to assess levels of specific metabolic byproducts. When the subjects were following diets high in protein they showed higher levels of N-nitroso compounds, and other metabolites linked to cancer in their stool. When they were eating the high protein/low carbohydrate diet there were lower amounts of compounds derived from fiber that experts think might provide protective properties against cancer.

Before you choose a diet to help you lose weight, talk with your doctor as he/she can help you find a plan that will help you take in less, stay satisfied and still lose weight.

Diets high in protein and low in carbohydrates have been successful when it comes to losing weight, and obesity does carry risks for colon cancer all on its own. If you need to lose weight, worries over the diet and colon cancer should not stop you. What you'll need to do is make sure that whatever eating plan you choose includes enough fiber. The research team suggest you get around 28 g of fiber each day.

Being aware of the risks is certainly important for all of us when it comes to colon health. The American Cancer Society tells us that this form of cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the U.S. It's so important to pay attention to recommendations for screening tests and have them when you should. An early diagnosis gives you the best chance for a complete cure.

By Kirsten Whittaker

It removes harmful material from the blood, produces enzymes and bile that help digest food and converts food into substances needed for life and growth.

How can cancer involve the liver?
The cancer can arise from the liver itself (primary liver cancer) or it can spread to the liver from a primary tumour at another site (secondary, or metastatic, cancer).

In the UK, secondary liver cancer is about 28 times more common than primary liver cancer. Each year there are about 70,000 patients in the UK with secondary liver cancer and about 2,500 with primary liver cancer.

Liver cancer can arise in two ways:
• Primary liver cancer (most commonly hepatocellular carcinoma) originates in the liver.
• Metastatic liver cancer results from the spread (metastasis) of cancer from other areas of the body.

What is primary liver cancer?
Primary liver cancer starts in the cells, bile ducts, blood vessels or connective tissue of the liver. Primary liver cancer is different from cancer that started somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver (called secondary liver cancer or metastatic liver cancer).

The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. The liver has two parts, called lobes – the right lobe and the smaller left lobe.

Causes
Your liver is a football-sized organ that sits in the upper right portion of your abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach. Your liver processes most of the nutrients absorbed from your small intestine and determines how much sugar (glucose), protein and fat enter your bloodstream. It also manufactures blood-clotting substances and certain proteins. Your liver performs a vital detoxifying function by removing drugs, alcohol and other harmful substances from your bloodstream. What are the main treatments for liver cancer? Surgery for primary liver cancer. Surgery for liver cancer is the best treatment we have if the cancer hasn't spread.

There are two main options
• A liver transplant
• Surgery to remove the cancer from your liver

Liver transplant
Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is more likely to develop in people with chronic cirrhosis. Your specialist may suggest a liver transplant if you have cirrhosis of the liver because of previous liver disease, infection with a hepatitis virus or from drinking alcohol.

Other Treatments
Your specialist may suggest one of the following treatments to help control liver cancer
• Percutaneous ethanol injection
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Chemoembolisation
• Cryosurgery or cryotherapy

New Treatment Targets Liver Cancer
In the interventional radiology suite, physicians use Selective Internal Radiation Therapy to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer.

Physicians
at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center are performing a new treatment for inoperable liver cancer known as Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). SIRT is a non-surgical outpatient therapy that uses microscopic radioactive spheres, called SIR-Spheres®, to deliver radiation directly to the site of the liver tumors.

Some Very Effective Cancer Treatments
More than half of patients that suffer with any form of cancer are treated with the use of radiation.

While other treatment methods are very effective in killing, stopping or otherwise disabling cancerous cells, radiation uses ionization to kill the cells and shrink tumors. The desired result of radiation treatment is to shrink tumors and relieve the symptoms associated with different kinds of cancers to save healthy tissue in the process.

Chemotherapy is another cancer treatment that works to destroy cancerous cells by preventing the cells from growing and spreading. Although some healthy sells may be harmed by the use of this method they are quite capable of repairing themselves following treatment.

Chemotherapy uses a combination of drugs that affect the hormones already present in your body. These drugs have a boosting affect on the bodys immune system that aid in fighting the foreign cancerous cells. These drugs can destroy the cells altogether or change the way the body reacts to the cells formations. Use to both control and cure the cancer chemotherapy also relieves symptoms that cancer can cause, like pain which inevitably help the patient to live more comfortably.

Surgery stands as a sometimes-necessary cancer treatment that cannot be avoided. One type of surgery used in the treatment of cancer is cryosurgery, which is a surgical technique for freezing and then killing the cancerous cells. Some cancers like liver cancer and prostate cancer benefit best from treatments that attack cancers that are contained in one area. Cervical cancer and other cancers where precancerous or non-cancerous conditions exist benefit most from this type of cancer treatment.

Other treatment methods include the process of eliminating the blood supply that feed tumor growth. Cancer treatments that use high-intensity light and still others that treat the formation of tumors with heat are less widely known by the general public but are used widely alone and in conjunction with other treatment methods.

One such treatment that uses laser light to remove cancer growths is most often for cancers on the surface of the skin or on the lining of internal organs. Laser therapy eliminates the chance of excessive bleeding and prevents damage to healthy tissue and has a lower chance of infection than other more invasive surgeries for cancer.

On the other hand, a hyperthermia treatment exposes the tissues to very high temperatures that kill cancerous cells. This form of treatment is always used with other forms of treatment such as radiation and chemo.

Cancer treatment that act as angiogenesis inhibitors are being tested and researched as they will aim to prevent the formation of blood vessels that feed the cancerous cells and allow them to continue to grow.