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Bowel cancer at a glance

Bowel cancer affects more than 36,500 people in the UK every year. It is the second most common cancer in women and the third in men. Thanks to improved treatment and earlier detection, five-year survival rates for bowel cancer have doubled over the last 30 years.

Eating a diet low in red or processed meat and high in fibre, fruit and vegetables can reduce the risk of bowel cancer. Being physically active helps to cut the risk, but being overweight or regularly drinking too much alcohol increases it.

Cancer Research UK is one of the major funders of bowel cancer research in the UK. Some people inherit faulty genes that increase their risk of bowel cancer, and our scientists have played a leading role in identifying these genes.

England, Scotland and Wales have launched national screening programmes for bowel cancer. Experts think this will save around 20,000 lives over the next twenty years.

To find out more about the causes, symptoms, screening and treatment of bowel cancer, please visit CancerHelp UK.

To read more about Cancer Research UK’s research into bowel cancer, visit our Research Highlights.