Use Of Some Laxatives Increases The Risk Of Colon Cancer

Recent findings published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology show that the type of laxative a person takes may influence the risk of colon cancer--a health issue that's estimated to be the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

"I was just surprised to see such a strong association between laxative use and colorectal cancer risk," said lead study author Jessica Citronberg, a predoctoral fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, in a news release. I didn't expect the results to be as strong as they were."

Findings revealed that fiber-based laxatives are associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer than non-fiber laxatives, which are alternatively linked to a much higher one. And though the study only shows an association between laxative types and colon cancer risk that does not prove cause-and-effect, experts stressed that more studies would be needed to determine this link.

Yet the findings are still significant as around 20 percent of Americans are thought to use laxatives. Non-fiber laxatives are also thought to be more widely used throughout the country.

For their research, the study authors used data on more than 75,000 adults ages 50-76 in Washington state. They found that people who used fiber-based laxatives at least four days a week for four years were 56 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who didn't used them.