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Business Insider

Colon cancer is quickly becoming a young person’s disease in countries around the world, rich and poor.
A study released recently in the medical journal Lancet Oncology documents rising rates of early-onset colorectal cancer across rich, highly industrialised parts of North America and Europe, and in middle-income areas worldwide.
“We found this trend is not just about high-income, Western countries,” lead study author and cancer researcher Hyuna Sung says. “It reaches the parts we didn’t see before, such as South America and Asia.”
From 2013 to 2017, colon cancer rates in young people went up in 27 of 50 countries Sung’s team examined worldwide.

Although the study only includes one country in Africa, Uganda, it is still some of the most recent, comprehensive data available on colon cancer rates around the globe. And it shows colon cancer rates increasing in young people living in countries like Turkey, Ecuador, and Chile.
The trend is not hitting all countries equally, though.
It’s very obvious the way that this disease trend is going on right now. We need to go back and consider our diet, sleep, and exercise.
Ganesh Halade, USF Heart Health Institute
In the United States, rates for older adults are declining while early-onset colon cancer rates continue to rise to unprecedented levels. There are outliers in the data, like Italy, Spain and Latvia, where the rates appear relatively unchanged year over year.
Scientists are starting to uncover clues about how modern diets and lifestyles play a role.
“[The results of] this study are quite expected,” associate professor Ganesh Halade from USF Heart Health Institute in the US state of Florida, who was not involved in the study, said, noting the rising rates across several continents. “Fundamentally, our diet has changed.”
Halade’s own colon cancer research, published this month, identified how ultra-processed foods can fuel colon cancer, wreaking havoc on the immune system and increasing inflammation.
“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.”

It still seems the richer a country gets, the 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 industrialised and urbanised countries were probably among the earliest to [adopt] detrimental dietary exposures and sedentary lifestyles associated with economic wealth,” the study authors wrote.
In other words, driving around in a car, sitting at a desk, and eating more convenience food every day for decades on end may not be great for our overall health, and might have some connections to these cancer trends.
Once inflammation skyrockets, Halade said, cancer has an easier time sprouting and thriving. His antidotes? 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 X, millennials, and Gen Z in ways their baby boomer parents and predecessors did not experience.

At the same time, thanks to more cancer screenings and less smoking, 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.
Another new study released this month suggests that our modern diets, filled with confectionery, sugary drinks and processed foods, do not have enough of the healthy fats and nutrients our bodies need to keep cancer-driving inflammation in check.
Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts and seeds can help prevent the inflammatory processes that over time lead to cancer.
But confectionery, chips, sausages, and packaged cakes seem to fuel tumours, while crowding out more unprocessed, healthier choices in our diets.

Still, food cannot be the whole story. It’s clear that a family history of colon cancer, as well as genetics and environment, have key roles in your level of colon cancer risk.
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 young colon cancer.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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Wellness

Why rise in early-onset colon cancers is ringing alarm bells about ultra-processed food

Snack foods tend to be in high in salt, sugar, and fat. Photo: Shutterstock

Rising rates of colon cancer in young people around the world reflect increases in the number leading sedentary lifestyles and rising consumption of ultra-processed food. Photo: Shutterstock

Colon cancer rates for people under the age of 50 are rising in many countries. Photo: Shutterstock 

We need to reconsider our sleep, diet and exercise, says Ganesh Halade from USF Heart Health Institute in the US. Photo: USF Heart Health Institute/Allison Long

A new study documents rising rates of early-onset colorectal cancer across middle-income areas worldwide. Photo: Shutterstock

Snack foods tend to be heavily processed and high in salt, sugar, and fat. Photo: Shutterstock

Early-onset cancers rising, survival rates too: how 2 young Hong Kong women beat cancer

Angie Yan celebrating her 25th birthday in Hong Kong, a year after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. While early-onset cancers are on the rise, survival rates for young patients are also high. Photo: Angie Yan

Yan, an accomplished trail runner, takes part in the Mount Fuji 100 event in Japan in April. Photo: The North Face

Yan takes part in the Mount Fuji 100 race, in which she came third. Photo: The North Face

Yan with her mother at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Hong Kong. Photo: Angie Yan

Phoenix Ng is a social worker and case manager of the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society’s Jockey Club Cancer Survivorship Care Project. Photo: Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society 

Ng recommends cancer patients acknowledge their emotions and learn to express their feelings – such as through art therapy. Photo: Shutterstock

Why more cancer is being diagnosed in younger people – and how lifestyle changes reduce the risk

Actor Chadwick Boseman died from cancer aged 43. Photo: AFP

Diagnoses of cancer – especially colorectal cancer – are increasing among under-50s, even as global cancer deaths decrease. Simple lifestyle and diet changes - more exercise, fewer sugary drinks, less ultra-processed food - can offset that increased risk. Photo: Shutterstock

Chadwick Boseman in a still from “Black Panther”. The actor died from colon cancer aged 43. Photo: Marvel Studios

Cancer among younger people is rising globally. 20 per cent of all colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in patients younger than 55. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Ashley Cheng is clinical director of oncology at the CUHK Medical Centre. Photo: Dr Ashley Cheng

Cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James (pictured with her brother Benjamin James) at the Royal Ascot horse racing event in the UK in 2022. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 35 and died that year, aged 40. Photo: David Benett/Getty Images

Why ultra-processed foods  – such as breads, cereals and most sausages – are harmful; they can be addictive and are linked to cancer and other ills, doctor says

Sweetened cereals are a common breakfast food that are ultra-processed and potentially harmful. A University College London professor explains why ultra-processed foods are dangerous, and how to spot them. Photo: Shutterstock

A woman shops in a supermarket. Almost three quarters of the US food supply is ultra-processed, according to food database GroceryDB. Photo: Shutterstock

Chris van Tulleken is an infectious diseases doctor at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London and an associate professor at University College London. Photo: TEDxNewcastle

Along with artificial flavourings, additives are used to bind ingredients, to stabilise UPF products, preserve them, colour them, and enhance their taste. Photo: Shutterstock

As UPF doesn’t make us feel full, we will eat more of it, driving excess consumption, according to van Tulleken. Photo: Shutterstock

Sausages with additives are almost always UPF. Photo: Shutterstock

The cover of van Tulleken’s book. Photo: Penguin

Why a stomach cancer diagnosis is often delayed: people ignore early symptoms, doctors say

Stomach cancer presents fairly mild symptoms at first, and the slow-developing disease often goes undiagnosed for a long time. We look at its symptoms, and the risk factors for the disease and how to reduce them through lifestyle choices. Photo: Shutterstock

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Smoking, drinking alcohol and eating processed foods all increase the risk of stomach cancer, says Dr Simon Wong, a specialist in general surgery at the CUHK Medical Centre. Photo: CUHK Medical Centre 

Helicobacter pylori bacteria that can cause a form of stomach cancer are present in 4.4 billion people worldwide, says Hong Kong gastroenterologist Choi Wai Lok. Photo: Choi Wai Lok

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How to lower cancer risk by up to 30 per cent? Exercise, eat more whole plant-based foods, and avoid drinking alcohol, scientists say

Can adopting practices such as exercising and quitting drinking help lower your risk of getting cancer? And if so, by how much? New research has some answers. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Eugene Kwan, in Hong Kong, says studies have demonstrated the substantial impact of regular exercise in preventing several types of cancer. Photo: Dr Eugene Kwan

Maintain a weight as low as possible within the healthy range throughout your life to lower cancer risk. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Anna Herby is a dietitian and nutrition education specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in the United States

You may want to give the snack food aisle a miss, to limit consumption of fast foods and processed foods high in fat, starches, or sugars. Photo: Shutterstock

To lower cancer risk, choose water over alcoholic or sugar-sweetened beverages. Photo: Shutterstock

Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and beans dominate a whole-food, plant-based diet, which can be powerful for cancer-risk reduction. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Colon cancer rates are falling among older people, but rising among young people because of sedentary lifestyles and processed-food diets


Colon cancer rates are falling among older people, but rising among young people because of sedentary lifestyles and processed-food diets.


Cancer

Medicine

Disease

Gen Z