Doctors Hail Easy new Bowel Cancer Test

      A simple and painless new exam for bowel cancer could be ready in two years - putting an end to the horribly intrusive exams that have keep thousands of people from getting tested.

      The DNA test, developed at the Mayo Clinic, is 91 percent accurate for detecting cancer of the colon, scientists say.

      The person being tested merely submits a stool sample to his or her doctor.

      The test can detect tumors at an early stage, as well as detecting precancerous polyps.

      That could take the place of the unpleasant - and not always accurate tests - now in use.

      Blood tests aren''t always on target because measuring blood in stool samples doesn''t reveal early-stage cancers or precancerous growths, and may simply indicate a minor problem, such as hemorrhoids.

      And that means many people unnecessarily undergo a colonoscopy, a costly and invasive medical procedure to further evaluate the colon.

      The new test is simple, requiring no special preparation and the stool sample can be provided at home.

      Meanwhile, researchers say changes in the way food is grown and produced has put people at a greater risk of developing bowel cancer than their ancestors.

      That''s because modern food techniques have robbed it of its natural anti-cancer agents, scientists at the University of Newcastle in England conclude.

      And they suggest that changes in farming methods over the past 100 years may have contributed to the growth in bowel cancer rates.

      They say the key to the problem is salicylates, which used to be a common component of many plants and vegetables.

      All green plants generate salicylates as part of a natural defense mechanism.

      When a fruit or vegetable is infected, it generates salicylates, which in turn localizes the infection and ensures that it does not affect the rest of the plant.

      But because of modern farming methods, plants with "infections" do not get through the food chain and, as a result, human levels of salicylates can be quite low.

      This, in turn, prevents the human body from properly fighting bowel cancer, researchers say.

      "Modern farming methods mean that we do not eat plants with black spots or infections. We are not offered them and we are never exposed to them," researcher John Burn told the BBC.

      "Today''s diet has drifted from the diet we might have adapted in those times to cope with disease."

     

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