Eating at least two servings a week may prevent a certain key in of tumor.
This is because precancerous polyps can be caught and removed when you get your recommended colonoscopies.
Screening isnt the only way to prevent colon cancer, though.
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One of these beneficial bacteria is calledBifidobacterium.
If it looks familiar to you, it might be because youve seen it listed on your yogurt container.
Their findings are published in the February 2025 issue ofGut Microbes.Heres what they found.
How Was This Study Conducted?
For both the NHS and HPFS, dietary information was gathered at baseline and updated about every four years.
Each participant was followed until 2016, a colon cancer diagnosis or death, whichever came first.
This meant they were going deeper than just an overall association between yogurt consumption and colon cancer.
What Did This Study Find?
There ended up being a total of 3,079 colon cancer cases during the study period.
Among those, 346 (31%) wereBifidobacterium-positive cases, and 775 (69%) wereBifidobacterium-negative cases.
If youre feeling confused, thats understandable.
They also say thatBifidobacterium-positive colon tumors may suggest impaired intestinal barrier function.
If youve heard ofleaky gut syndrome, youve heard of the intestinal barrier.
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
This stresses the importance of taking a big-picture view of your health habits.
Its a collaborative effort that involves every area of your life.
In particular, it appears to protect againstBifidobacterium-positive colon cancer tumors.
This is likely due to having more beneficial gut bacteria, which help protect the colon.
Other fermented foods that add helpful bacteria to your gut include kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Colorectal Cancer Statistics.
Slizewska K, Markowiak-Kopec P, Slizewska W.The role of probiotics in cancer prevention.Cancers.2021.
