Doctors consider polyps in the colon, also called colorectal adenomas, a strong precursor to cancer.
Researchers found 31 percent of 409 patients randomly selected to receive 1200 milligrams of calcium carbonate daily developed one or more polyps during the study. Thirty-eight percent of 423 volunteers who received an inactive compound, or placebo, showed new polyp growth. This represents a significant, although moderate, reduction in the risk of recurrent colon adenomas. We need more research on preventing colon cancer because this work is not the final answer. Patients were treated at six clinical centers at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and the universities of Iowa, Southern California, Minnesota and North Carolina.