Metabolic Syndrome Raises Colon Cancer Risk 75%

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Patients coping with metabolic syndrome have a 75 percent higher risk for developing colorectal cancer sometime in their lives, a new study suggests. "Metabolic syndrome is a conglomeration of three or four diseases, that together can portend a worse prognosis for certain illnesses, including a number of cancers," said study co-author Dr. Donald Garrow, a clinical gastroenterology fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. "But what has not been well-defined," he added, "is the associated risk for colorectal cancer. So this is one of the first -- and certainly the largest -- study to look specifically at this risk. And we found that there is indeed a higher risk for colorectal cancer in this population." Garrow and his colleague, Dr.... [read full story]