ABSTRACT
The main environmental culprit was identified as being the Western lifestyle and diet; however, in addition, it was clear that irrespective of diet certain families were at risk for colorectal cancer. These two major etiologies of colorectal cancer, acquired and inherited, are discussed more fully in Chapters 4 and 6 of this book and their references. This chapter will therefore be a synopsis of recognized risk factors and their relative contributions to the overall occurrence of colorectal cancer (Table 2.1). For simplicity, in this chapter, colon and rectum, cancer and adenomatous polyps, are considered as one entity, although there are slight differences in epidemiology for each of them.
