Colon cancer diagnoses in young people are rising to unprecedented levels in 27 countries
NEWS | 15 December 2024
Colon cancer rates for people under age 50 are going up across countries both rich and poor. In the US, rates for older adults are declining, while early-onset colon cancer is on the rise. Scientists are starting to uncover clues about how modern diets and lifestyles play a role. Colon cancer is quickly becoming a young person's disease in countries around the world. A new study released Wednesday in the Lancet Oncology documents rising rates of early-onset colorectal cancer across rich, highly industrialized parts of North America and Europe and in middle-income areas worldwide. "We found this trend is not just about high-income, Western countries," Hyuna Sung, a cancer researcher and the study's lead author, told Business Insider. "It reaches the parts we didn't see before, such as South America and Asia." During the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, colon cancer rates in young people went up in 27 of 50 countries Sung's team examined worldwide. Though the study only includes one country in Africa (Uganda), it includes some of the most recent, comprehensive data available on colon cancer rates around the globe. And it shows colon cancer rates spiking in young people living in countries such as Turkey, Ecuador, and Chile. The trend is not hitting all countries equally, though. While in the US, early-onset colon cancer rates continue to rise to unprecedented levels, there are outliers in the data, such as Italy, Spain, and Latvia, where the rates appear relatively unchanged year over year. "This study is quite expected," Ganesh Halade, an associate professor at the USF Heart Health Institute, who was not involved in the study, told BI. "Fundamentally, our diet is changed" Halade's own research, published earlier this week, identified a link between colon cancer and ultra-processed foods. Halade said these foods can increase inflammation and compromise the immune system. "It's very obvious the way that this disease trend is going on right now," he said. "We need to go back and consider our diet, sleep, and exercise." Why colon cancer strikes younger people in richer countries It appears that as a country gets wealthier, more young people are at risk of developing colon cancer. Countries with some of the steepest gains in under-50 colon cancer cases in recent years include Australia, New Zealand, the US, South Korea, and Japan. "Children and adolescents in these highly industrialized and urbanized countries were probably among the earliest to uptake detrimental dietary exposures and sedentary lifestyles associated with economic wealth," the study authors wrote. Things like driving, sitting at a desk all day, and eating more convenience food could contribute to these cancer trends. To counteract these factors, Halade recommends more sleep, movement, and home-cooked food. There seems to be a pronounced uptick in the incidence of early-onset colon cancer among people born after 1950, suggesting that there are lifestyle and environmental exposures affecting Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers in ways their baby boomer parents and predecessors like the Greatest Generation didn't experience. At the same time, colon cancer rates in older adults are going down in many rich countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Korea, and Israel. Researchers believe that's due in part to more people getting cancer screenings and fewer people smoking. What we eat and how we live matters Ultra-processed foods are full of sugar, fat, and oil and devoid of nutrients. Getty Images Scientists are still trying to determine exactly what's driving up early-onset colon cancer rates, but many public-health experts blame our food system. Halade's recent study, for example, suggested that modern diets, filled with packaged snacks, chips, sugary drinks, and processed foods, don't have enough of the healthy fats and nutrients our bodies need to keep cancer-feeding inflammation in check. Foods rich in omega-3, like leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds can help prevent the inflammatory processes that could, over time, lead to cancer. Still, food is only part story. It's clear that a family history of colon cancer, as well as the unique dance your genetics and your environment play, have key roles in your personal colon cancer risk. Health experts are looking into environmental factors like air pollution, microplastics, and more sedentary lifestyles for clues about what else may be driving the increase in colon cancer in younger people.
Author: Hilary Brueck.
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