About 80% of the time the tumor results from unhealthy habits, such as lack of physical activity and a high-fat diet.
After the March Lilac campaigns, for the prevention of cervical cancer, and March Yellow, about raising awareness of endometriosis, it was time for Março Azul Marinho, focused on colorectal cancer, the 2nd most common tumor in men and women in Brazil, most common in people over 50 years of age.
Worldwide, bowel cancer accounts for about 10% of all cancer deaths. This type of tumor, 80% of the time, results from unhealthy habits, such as lack of physical activity, a diet rich in animal fat, low consumption of fiber found in cereals and fruits, alcohol consumption, which should be limited, smoking and obesity.
Obesity, according to professor Ulysses Ribeiro Jr., from the USP Faculty of Medicine and medical coordinator of Surgical Oncology at Icesp (São Paulo State Cancer Institute), leads to chronic inflammation of the body, contributing to the formation of polyps (warts that grow on the intestinal wall) and genetic changes in these lesions, transforming them into a tumor.
He cites a worrying fact: due to the lack of early detection of colorectal cancer, 70% of cases that arrive at Icesp are in more advanced stages of the disease, making treatment difficult. From the moment this tumor grows in the intestine, it will present symptoms such as bleeding in the stool, abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.
For tumors that affect the lower intestinal regions, such as the rectum or anal region, symptoms present as thinning of the stool or “that imperative urge to evacuate and, when you get there, it seems like not everything has come out”.
The specialist also mentions bleeding, which can often be confused, for example, with a hemorrhoid: “The individual thinks it is a hemorrhoid, but the blood comes from above, so we have to be careful with that.”
On the other hand, there is no scientific evidence to support the increased incidence of cancer in people who suffer, for example, from diverticulitis (inflammation in the large intestine), whose symptoms can be confused with those of cancer.
Ways of prevention
Ribeiro warns of the importance of early detection of colorectal cancer, which can be done through screening for the disease, which includes a fecal occult blood test as a form of secondary prevention, that is, a method of diagnosing early lesions before symptoms appear.
Today, this type of exam, in addition to becoming simpler, is more effective. When the result is confirmed as positive, we then proceed with colonoscopy, to avoid having it “all over the world, which would greatly increase the cost and with many negative cases”.
In Brazil, as there is still no organized screening, the fecal occult blood test must be carried out annually from the age of at least 50 years. Ribeiro also says that, if detected early, cancerous lesions can be removed by colonoscopy, eliminating the need for more aggressive treatments in the future.
The numbers show the effectiveness of this test for detecting the tumor: in a study carried out by Hospital das Clínicas in a population of 10,000 people in the east zone of São Paulo, 7% of these had no symptoms, but had positive occult blood.
Of this total of 7%, 550 people underwent a colonoscopy exam – of these, 51 had tumors, but more than half were resected during the exam.
This text was originally published by ., on March 29, 2026. The content is free for republication, the source is cited, and was adapted to the Poder360 standard.
