Make your workplace bowel cancer aware

Despite the fact that someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer every 15 minutes in the UK, many people are still unaware of the symptoms or of the simple steps they can take to help reduce their risk of developing the disease. That's why Bowel Cancer UK is once again promoting Bowel Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) this April.

To coincide with the awareness month, Bowel Cancer UK has produced a Good Bowel Health Booklet which includes straightforward advice on how people can look after their digestive health through diet and exercise. During April and beyond, this will be used as part of the charity's UK-wide health promotion activity, including within workplaces, to spread the message that making changes to diet and lifestyle doesn't have to be challenging but can make a huge difference to your health.

Physical activity and regular exercise help to maintain a healthy weight, and research suggests that physical activity can also decrease people's risk of bowel cancer. Similarly, evidence shows that vegetables, fruits and foods containing fibre, such as wholegrains and pulses, may protect against bowel cancer as well as against weight gain and obesity.

Caroline Pundyke, health promotion and outreach officer at Bowel Cancer UK, comments, “We want people to understand that eating healthily and increasing the amount of exercise they do really can improve their digestive health and could also help to reduce their bowel cancer risk. The workplace is an ideal place within which to promote these messages, so we would like to hear from you if you would be interested in a bowel cancer awareness talk or you would simply like to obtain some awareness materials to display in communal areas.”

Please contact Caroline Pundyke on 020 7381 9711 or caroline.pundyke@bowelcanceruk.org.uk to arrange a bowel cancer awareness talk and/or obtain publicity and awareness materials.