Doctors are urged to watch for iron deficiency as an early warning sign of colon cancer in young people.
A new analysis of CDC data has shown that deaths from the disease have increased just under 1 percent since 2005 in Americans ages 20 to 54.
It found that mortality was higher in younger people whose tumors are often diagnosed at later stages, perhaps because doctors are less likely to suspect cancer.
The researchers behind the report now urge doctors to maintain a “low clinical suspicion” in younger patients suffering from a change in bowel habits, bleeding or an iron deficiency.
Iron deficiency can cause anemia, which is a condition in which the body lacks enough healthy blood cells to circulate oxygen.
According to a 2024 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, about three in 10 adults may have some type of iron deficiency. British data suggests that 3 percent of men and 8 percent of women are also iron deficient.
Some symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, weakness, pale skin, cold hands, cold feet, headache, and dizziness.
Iron is found in large quantities in red meat; However, many doctors have recommended that people reduce consumption of this food group to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
The graph above shows the increase in colorectal cancer in Americans under age 50 over the past two decades.
Research has linked a diet too high in iron to cancer, suggesting it could accumulate in the liver and become toxic. But on the other hand, having too little iron makes it harder for the body’s immune system to fight cancer, which could also increase the risk of developing the disease.
In all, researchers from Germany’s Institute of Nutritional Sciences said: “Ideal iron intake should therefore be carefully balanced between iron deficiency and excess, as both can have potentially crucial clinical consequences with respect to development.” of cancer.”
This brutal trend is sweeping the United States and has already claimed the lives of some public figures.
The late Chadwick Boseman, the star of the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, was diagnosed with the disease in 2016, when he was just 39 years old.
He died after a four-year battle with the disease in August 2020, inspiring countless fans to pay attention to the early-onset colorectal cancer crisis.
The increased attention paid to the disease has led to more research, such as the new study, which was presented by Rutgers doctors in American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting 2024.
Using data from the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics, researchers examined data on 147,026 cancer deaths between 2000 and 2022.
They divided people into two groups: between 20 and 44 years old and between 45 and 54 years old.
They found that each year, the number of people aged 20 to 44 who died from cancer increased by 0.93 percent.
Study author Yazan Abboud, resident research chair at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey, told Medscape that their findings: “prompt greater efforts to raise awareness about the symptoms of colorectal cancer.”
Chadwick Boseman kept his diagnosis largely private, meaning his death at age 43 came as a shock to his millions of fans. Since then it has become a symbol of the fight against colorectal cancer in young people.
Dr. David Johnson, chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, who was not involved in the research, told Medscape that many young patients are diagnosed when the disease has already taken over the body.
The longer a cancer goes undetected in the body, the more time it has to grow and infiltrate larger parts of the body.
The larger and more widespread a cancer is, the more difficult it is to treat.
Instead of waiting until it’s too late, there are signs young people can watch for, Dr. Johnson said, that may make them want to get screened sooner: “In particular, overt bleeding and deficiency of iron need an evaluation focused on these younger groups. .’
Doctors know that often in the early stages of colorectal cancer, patients often develop anemia. Therefore, the role that iron plays in cancer has been studied for a long time.
Much of the research has focused on the damage that too much iron can do to the body. With studies of the American Association for Cancer Research demonstrating that a lifetime of excessive iron consumption can lead to an increased risk of lung and colorectal cancer.
Researchers suggest that tumor cells can use iron as fuel to grow and spread, drawing blood from healthy tissues. It can also accumulate in the liver and become toxic.
The data, which has not yet been published in a journal, showed that year on year, the number of people aged 20 to 54 dying from cancer has increased by 0.87 percent. This increase, they said, was most pronounced in people ages 20 to 45.
But some research also suggests that not enough iron could also be a problem.
A review of 2021 A study by researchers at Germany’s Institute of Nutritional Sciences found that iron deficiency was linked to an increased risk of developing and dying from colorectal cancer.
The researchers said: “Just as the effects of excessive iron intake can potentially influence both the etiology and prognosis of CRC, so can the physiological effects of iron deficiency.”
Similarly, a 2001 study from McGill University in Canada found that people with lung, prostate, head and neck cancer were on average 65 percent more likely to die if they had anemia than if they did not.
Researchers suggest that when the body does not have enough iron, it cannot produce white blood cells, which are the immune system’s first line of defense.
When cancer begins to develop, a healthy immune system can sometimes detect the mutated cells and destroy them before they become tumors.
Therefore, destroying the immune system by not getting enough iron could make the body more susceptible to cancer, scientists suggest.
Researchers from the Institute of Nutritional Sciences said: ‘The role of iron deficiency has been largely ignored and, based on evidence from the preclinical and clinical data reviewed, possibly underestimated.
Every year, around 45,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer, the general term for colon and rectal cancer.
Only half of those diagnosed are expected to survive 10 years after learning they have the disease, and just 17,000 Britons die from cancer each year.
However, according to experts, both cases and deaths are expected to increase by around 4,500 and 2,500, respectively, each year between now and 2040.