(Image via fineartamerica.com)
Staff Writer: Gwenyth Pichette
Email: gpichette@umassd.edu
Colorectal cancer, or what is more commonly known as colon cancer, has always been a reasonable concern for middle-aged individuals. Those between the ages of 45-55 are no strangers to medical experts pushing them to get colonoscopies as a preventative measure.
Statistically, this has never been something for the younger generations to seriously worry about — until now.
All has changed with the emergence of a new study from the American Cancer Society.
It revealed that colon cancer is consistently being found in people as young as twenty years old — and the number is steadily increasing. The cases for younger people are expected to skyrocket to a whopping 90% by the year 2030, according to the director of the Colorectal Cancer Center.
The future looks grimmer still as “20,000 people in the U.S. under the age of 50 will be diagnosed this year,” and worse, “an estimated 3,750 young adults will die.”
A definitive cause for these staggering statistics? It remains unknown. Yet, this hasn’t stopped countless scientists from weighing in with their theories on the cause.
One of the most popular theories points to processed foods as the culprit.
It is no secret that processed foods contain heaps of additives and preservatives. These are known to have a deleterious impact on people’s stomach health.
A 2019 study said those who consumed more sugary foods were twice as likely to die from colon cancer than those who consumed the least sugary foods.
However, inconsistencies in past research on processed foods have experts scratching their heads.
In a 2017 study, it was found that “men who ate the most amount of ultra-processed foods had a 29% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer” compared to the men in the study who ate the least amount of processed foods.
The difference between the two would lead one to believe that processed foods cause colon cancer for everybody. Yet, strangely, the same association was not found in all women.
The reason for this discrepancy remains unknown.
As a general rule of thumb, experts advise to opt for whole foods and to avoid overconsumption of highly processed foods to lower cancer risk.
Others point to obesity as the cause.
This is mainly because obesity is known to make people more susceptible to disease. More significantly, it is already an established risk for colon cancer. In fact, those who are obese are actually “30 times more likely to develop colorectal cancer than those at a healthy weight.”
With such extreme statistics, it would not be a stretch to conclude this to be the cause of younger individuals getting the disease.
However, many experts, like Rebecca Siegel, a cancer epidemiologist, remain unconvinced.
Siegel acknowledges that, generally, obesity increases the risk for colon cancer, but “the data [doesn’t] support these specific factors as solely driving the trend.” Siegel instead remains steadfast in her belief that “something else is going on” as many of these younger diagnosed patients are “very healthy” and “very active.”
Many younger patients with colon cancer have died despite not being obese — and cases like these have certainly been evident in recent years.
Fans were shocked when Broadway actor Quentin Oliver Lee, who was fit and otherwise the picture of perfect health, died from colon cancer last year — only 6 months after being diagnosed.
He was only 34 years old.
There was also the more famous case of Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, who tragically passed away at only 43 from colon cancer. As playing a superhero, he was required to be physically fit for his role. Evidently, obesity was not a factor in his colon cancer diagnosis either.
What other causes remain?
Alcohol consumption is another popular theory.
Experts have even looked at alcohol’s association with colon cancer internationally to get to the bottom of this pressing issue. Notably, they found that in “countries where there has been a reduction in alcohol consumption, such as France and Italy, [they] have not experienced such marked rises in death rates from this cancer.”
Despite all research efforts, a definitive cause for this spike in young people remains unknown as of now. The fear certainly weighs heavy on people’s minds, particularly on those who have to see the effects of it firsthand and are helpless to stop it.
Colorectal surgeon Dr. Sarah Fox shared her sheer horror at the skyrocket in cases that she has encountered in her practice.
“I had one week where I had three young women, younger than me, come in. I think the youngest was 28 and the oldest had just turned 40. They all had rectal cancer, and I was just like, I can’t even believe this is happening.”
The stakes are even higher for early screening for young people because “colorectal cancer in younger people tends to be more aggressive, with lower survival rates compared to colorectal cancer diagnosed in older people.”
With such an overwhelming amount of information, many younger people wonder what to do next. Precautionary dietary and lifestyle changes are recommended to reduce your chances of getting the deadly disease. These include increasing physical activity, limiting processed food intake and alcohol consumption, and not smoking.
While doctors once urged only those over the age of 45 to get colonoscopies, times have changed.
If you have any symptoms of colon cancer, it is recommended to get a screening done immediately — no matter what age you are.
See the infographic for colon cancer symptoms below.
