Colorectal Cancer Is Rising Among the Young, Even Kids and Teens

Colorectal Cancer Is Rising Among the Young, Even Kids and Teens gizmodo.com

Colorectal cancers in people 20 and under are often aggressive and delayed in diagnosis, new research shows.

31 points•gumby•about 9 hours ago•24 comments•

#colorectal #young #kids #cancer #even #teens #rising #among

24 comments

Aboutplantsabout 7 hours ago

How much of an impact does sitting for hours on end effect your risk of colon cancer? I’m not talking about lack of exercise but the physical act of sitting for 6+ hours a day, regardless of whether you get “adequate” exercise?

As someone with Crohn’s disease, I am sensitive to sitting for extended periods and its impact on my internals near my end. I’m sure there is some sort of effect, just curious if there has been any research

peterbecichabout 7 hours ago

Has this factor really changed much in the past century?

unrented7977about 6 hours ago

Yes, unequivocally.

Fire-Dragon-DoLabout 7 hours ago

Same question: I exercise and eat healthy, but I sit for long stretches

onemoresoopabout 7 hours ago

It's probably not too healthy to sit for too long. If unavoidable, eg. in schools, best thing is to periodically stand up for a while before contining with more sitting...

swingandamissabout 8 hours ago

> hypotheses as to why rates are rising in younger people, including processed foods, higher obesity rates, and certain infections

Lack of moving/walking with long periods of sitting, being overweight, no fruits or vegetables and too much highly processed food/junk. It appears to be somewhat self inflicted, but it's hard to live a better life for most as the above is just the norm now.

gwbas1cabout 6 hours ago

It's too early to jump to conclusions, it could be anything: A chemical used in bottles (for babies), traces of a chemical in infant formula, something in toothpaste, medicine, ect.

Given the rise in colon cancer in middle-aged adults, I suspect the two (teenage and middle aged colon cancer) are related.

The most ironic would be if it's caused by trace amounts of a fancy new pesticide used on a less-popular fruit or vegtable.

yrjrjjrjjtjjrabout 5 hours ago

The current paradigm of change something and wait half a century to see if it caused or prevented cancer is ridiculous. We can do better. Look at proxies and early warning signs. Do intervention and look at something like cellular aging, DNA damage, cell death rate ( renewal requires cell division which is error prone). Bring the feedback loop down to a year and maybe we can make some progress.

jacobolusabout 5 hours ago

I would expect a significant proportion to be caused by persistent viral infections. Hopefully at some point in the future everyone gets a multi-strain HPV vaccine, and hopefully researchers continue to develop vaccines for other similar viruses.

mejutocoabout 6 hours ago

Maybe vaping

EA-3167about 7 hours ago

Those are certainly factors, but it’s madness to think they’re the only ones. We live in an increasingly polluted world, we truly don’t know what the long-term impact of ubiquitous microplastic, PFAS, and so on has. I’m sure increasingly unhealthy and low fiber diets don’t help, but I’d be skeptical of that as a full “explanation”.

Sometimes trends occur due to complex circumstances we can’t pin down exactly, and it’s wildly unhelpful to pretend that you have a solution to a problem that boils down to, “wwweellllll they did it to themselves I guess.”

randycupertinoabout 6 hours ago

Also PFAS has been found to have links to colorectal cancer: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12661558/

https://research.uky.edu/news/markey-study-links-forever-che...

PFAS in drinking water linked to multiple cancers (oral cavity/pharynx, lung, digestive system, brain, urinary system, soft tissue, and thyroid):

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00742-2

kelseyfrogabout 6 hours ago

Is this medical advice?

lossyalgoabout 6 hours ago

I would hope/assume all doctors would recommend less sitting/more walking as well as eating more fruits & veggies and less ultra-processed foods.

I would also assume it's obvious to most readers here that GP's guidance don't necessarily have to be the reasons for increased prevalence of colorectal cancer, but they would at the last help decrease chances of other health-related issues.

therealpygonabout 6 hours ago

Ah yes. Kids are getting cancer “because they are fat and lazy”. How quaint.

yjftsjthsd-habout 3 hours ago

Nobody said anything about being lazy.

williamtellabout 7 hours ago

Sure but it is rather paradoxical as healthy lifestyle things are far more available like every other consumer option. There's just the higher probability of choosing the more immediately satisfying new choices and/or of envying those who do.

estearumabout 7 hours ago

“System prefers lower-energy state” is not paradoxical at all.

It’s just about the most fundamental law in the entire universe, in fact.

Read the full thread on Hacker News →

24 comments

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