Question

Carbohydrates are linked to diseases of lifestyle.  Discuss this statement in which it becomes clear how the risk of colorectal cancer can increase.

Answer 1

Colorectal cancer is a abnormal growth of cells developed in colon or rectum.It is a cancer that is mostly associated with lifestyle ,age and sometimes genetic disorders.Colon is associated with bacteria that does fermentation of unabsorbed carbohydrates to release fatty acids.

Carbohydrates are an essential part of our diet. Healthy intake of carbohydrates is necessary for the functioning of metabolic activities in our body. The carbohydrates in our body increases the blood sugar levels and to keep the homeostatic conditions pancreas releases more insulin. When we continue to consuming more carbohydrates Glucagon hormone cannot burn the fat stored in our body and causes many health issues. Besides obesity these can lead to many lifestyle diseases like insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, cancer etc.In these hyperinsulinemia may explain the possibility of colorectal cancer in individuals with obesity or people who are inactive. There are many researches that support the role of insulin in colorectal carcinogenesis. An abnormal insulin level is resulted from factors such as body mass index, age, activities, diet etc. All these factors may lead to resistance to insulin and this leads to elevated insulin levels to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Insulin also has a role of growth factor in human colonic mucosal cells.These cells have insulin insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors. Thus insulin as a known growth factor may be an agent to cause colorectal cancer at chronic hyperinsulinemic individuals. High Glycemic index carbohydrates can also reduce the levels of the gut microbes that can metabolize the carbohydrates and change to butyrate.This can lead to an abnormal tumor development in colon leading to colorectal cancer.So all these findings can lead to a conclusion that the carbohydrates induced lifestyle changes can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.