Bowel cancer is a deadly disease. Yet recent studies have shown that the chance of developing it being liked to lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise, the chances of surviving it, also depend on the same factors.

The World Cancer Research Fund is putting around 50,000 pounds behind a study to be carried out by Dundee University, Scotland.

The three-month study will involve cancer survivors aged above fifty and with a BMI (Body Mass Index) above 25 who will be put on a monitored diet and exercise.

Levels of vitamin C as well as measures of weight will be carried out during this period. A note of the challenges faced by the participants will also be taken.

The researchers hope for changes such as weight loss of about five percent, 150 minutes of physical activity per week and healthier diet patterns.

The study is named 'LiveWell' and hopes to establish a correlation between BMI, exercise and rate of recurrence and survival of the cancer.

Survival rates of this cancer have improved considerably over the last years. A survival rate of 50 percent of patients, five years after diagnosis of the disease now is quite common.

Says Professor Annie Anderson, one of the leaders of the study, "Research has shown a link between the primary development of bowel cancer and diet and lifestyle factors. Being overweight and inactive, for example, can increase its risk. There is some evidence out now that survival might also be influenced by levels of activity and diet."