Apple For Your Colon Craves

If you had to choose one fruit to keep your colon happy, which would it be?

If you said apples, that's not a bad choice. The kind of fiber in apples -- called pectin -- appears to both bump up colon-protective compounds and clamp down on cancer-causing ones.

The Power of Pectin
In a lab study, apple pectin increased levels of butyrate, a fatty acid that not only keeps colon tissue healthy but also slows the production of a cancer-causing substance. Apple juice extracts amped up butyrate as well.

3 More Keys to Colon Health
To keep your colon in good shape, get screened for colon cancer on a schedule recommended by your doctor. And here are some specific diet do's:

Load up on whole grains for fiber. Dietary fiber.

Drink milk instead of soda. Calcium and vitamin D protect your colon, but sugar seems to do the opposite. Milk Really Do a Body Good? .

Add sliced onions to a salad or sub. You may need to carry breath mints everywhere, but boosting your cancer defenses is worth it! For sweet onion taste, try these Pear, Walnut and Gorgonzola Pizzas for dinner.

Ah, the perfect apple . .

Benefit: Eating 25 grams (38 grams if you are a man under 50) of fiber per day makes your age 2.5 years younger than eating 12 grams of fiber per day.