Colon and Rectal Cancers Rising in Young People

[radnyc]

My bet is the crap we've been eating the last 40 years or so. Processed foods, with untold additives to keep it from rotting. That and our attachment to our tvs, computers, phones etc. in other words lack of physical activity. This is very unfortunate.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/well ... -news&_r=0

[weisssoccermom]

In addition to the article that is already linked, click on this link as well. It may very well be the same article but it also has an interesting video clip with Katie Couric and some experts....specifically on this subject.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/colon-cancer ... 59532.html

[horizon]

I always feel sad when I see these statistics but it makes me feel like less of an oddity for having to deal with this. When I was diagnosed I had already almost stopped eating red meat completely and was hitting the gym 4 times a week for years.

[PainInTheAss]

It's probably all that high fructose corn syrup in everything and GMOs. That would explain why even young vegans and people with healthy diets are getting this more often. I gave up red meat 20 years ago, but I would still have been exposed to HFCS and GMOs. You would have to have an all organic diet and have your own cow to eat like they did in the early part of last century before there were chemicals and pesticides in everything. Meanwhile, advances in treatment increase our chance of being cured compared to 100 years ago, so maybe it all evens out.

[mdev]

It's the reverse lottery. Congratulations! You're the 5 in a million.

My husband read that and said, Eff this and let's buy some lottery tickets.

[Lee]

I . . . Meanwhile, advances in treatment increase our chance of being cured compared to 100 years ago, so maybe it all evens out.

Major advancements in the last 40 years alone. Friend of mine, dad diagnosed at age 46 from exploratory surgery with rectal cancer, in the mid 1970's. I do not believe colonoscopies were available then, butt not sure either. He woke up to a colostomy bag and a cancer diagnose. Told he had 6 months to live. Not sure if chemo helped or hurt him, butt he died about 6 month out from his diagnoses.

I'm coming up on 13 yrs since diagnoses and the advancements in the past decade alone are amazing. When I was diagnosed, FOLFOX was experimental. None of the gene testing that they do today. Yes, I can see where there will be a cure for cancer in the not too distant future.

Lee

[Utwo]

I went through three articles apparently rehashing the same scientific publication:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/3018803/lazy-millennials-face-a-bowel-cancer-time-bomb-thanks-to-poor-diet-and-booze/
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/colon-rectal-cancer-rates-among-181003746.html
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20170305/colorectal-cancer-rates-rising

It seems to me that such sensational conclusions were mainly due to inability of the modern journalists to read and comprehend scientific papers.
The latest article seems the most trustworthy to me. Its main conclusion is:
"With colorectal cancer rates increasing for people in their early 50s but decreasing for those in their late 50s, the study found a strikingly smaller gap in incidence within just that decade of life.
The younger group's rate used to be half that of the older group; it now is just 12 percent lower."

So it's about comparison of the number of cancer diagnosis in people 50 to 54 years old and 55 to 59 years old.

Is it possible that such dramatic outcome was caused by routine colonoscopies in people older than 50?
In this case it's possible that in people 50 to 54 y.o. colonoscopies discovered early stage cancer that could have been diagnosed at a later age with more advanced stage without colonoscopy.

I would like to see a more detailed analysis paying attention to staging at diagnosis as well.