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Bowel Cancer

What is bowel cancer?

Bowel cancer is a cancer that starts in the bowel. The bowel is part of your body that helps you digest food and turn it into poo. It is inside your tummy.

Sometimes, a small lump can start to grow in the bowel. This lump can make you feel unwell, or it can cause changes when you go to the toilet. Finding bowel cancer early can make it easier to treat. Bowel cancer can happen to anyone, but it is more common as people get older.

Lifestyle factors that can increase risk:

  • Eating a lot of red and processed meat like bacon, ham and sausages

  • Being overweight

  • Not being very active over many years

  • Drinking alcohol regularly

  • Smoking

Longer-term factors you cannot change:

  • Getting older

  • Bowel cancer in your close family

  • Certain inherited conditions

  • Bowel conditions over time, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis

  • A history of bowel polyps

Having one or more risk factors does not mean someone will get bowel cancer. It just means the chance may be higher.

You don’t need to panic, just notice what’s normal for you. Here are some things to look out for:

  • A change in how often you poo such as, going more often, less often, or feeling different for a few weeks

  • Poo that looks different for example, looser, harder, thinner, or not what’s usual for you

  • Blood in your poo or on the toilet paper

  • Feeling like you haven’t finished even after going to the toilet

  • Tummy pain or bloating that doesn’t go away

  • Feeling very tired, more than usual, for no clear reason

  • Losing weight without trying

For symptoms, screening and when to get advice, see NHS guidance:

NHS - Bowel Cancer

 

Last reviewed: January 2026
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