Do You Know Where Your Colon Is?

Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine felt the need to use matter-of-fact language when they made the following billboard because "39 percent of Americans don't know what the colon is." They came up with the number 39 based on a recent adult telephone survey conducted by ORC, but I can vouch for it. Many of our patients don't know basic anatomy and would not know what or where their colon is.

Baseball fans eat more than 22 million hot dogs at ballparks during baseball season. PCRM's put their new billboard outside of Marlins Park in Miami and another one in Chicago to warn opening-day attendees that hot dogs can damage their health. 

“Colon cancer attacks 140,000 Americans every year, killing about 50,000, and processed meats are a clear-cut contributor,” says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., PCRM nutrition education director. “Many Americans have no idea that eating hot dogs and bacon raises their risk of this deadly disease.” “It is a bit surprising that we have to simplify the message to this extent,” Levin says. “Hopefully the information will get through.”

Let me add that cold cuts (lunch meats) are included on this list. I never have eaten a lot of hot dogs or bacon but I used to eat lunch meat every day. I just hope that not eating these things for 16 years reduces my risk.