March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and experts say that people who eat a "rainbow" of foods can reduce their chances of developing colorectal cancer. Since colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the United States and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths, researchers say it pays to know how to avoid it.

While many Americans know which foods to eat to help keep their hearts healthy they often don't know how to eat to protect their colons, Lynn Goldstein, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., from the Jay Monahan Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said in a statement

Eating five fruits and vegetables a day doesn't have to be boring. As a way to help keep your body healthy, it can be fun as well. So this St. Patrick's Day instead of dying your food green, celebrate the day by eating naturally green food and enjoy all the health benefits those foods have to offer, experts suggest.

"Green foods across the board are healthy in terms of their vitamin, mineral, water and antioxidant content. And St Patrick's Day is the perfect time to think about how you can incorporate more of them into your diet," Erica Wald, RD, a wellness coordinator with the MFit Health Promotion Division at the University of Michigan Health System, said in a statement

The natural B vitamin "folate" is missing from many young women's diets, and this has caused alarm among government health officials.

Deficiency of this vitamin has been linked to birth defects of the brain and spine, as concluded by past research. The results of this research brought out the need for breads and cereals fortified with folic acid, an artificial version of "folate," the natural vitamin B, to be included in diets, especially during pregnancy

According to a published report in January's issue of a neurology medical journal, patients who had higher folate levels had a decreased risk for Alzheimer's disease.

The report indicates that individuals who have higher levels of folate (either naturally through their diet or by taking supplements) may in turn have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

Government health officials in the United States are concerned over a possible increase in birth defects linked to a drop in folate levels in the blood of younger women, mainly due to the popularity of low-carbohydrate diet or unfortified whole-grain breads.

According to officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Folate is a naturally occurring B vitamin. Folic acid and folate (the anion form) occur naturally in food and can also be taken as supplements