Scientists are launching urgent research into rising rates of colon cancer among young people.
A team of government-funded researchers at top universities in the United States and the United Kingdom will receive up to $25 million over five years to investigate what is behind this increase.
Their studies will involve analyzing feces and cells from patients diagnosed with cancer, as well as the link between diets and tumor formation.
The mysterious rise is thought to be linked to obesity, sedentary lifestyles and junk food consumption, but newer theories have suggested that fungal infections or antibiotics could be to blame.
The graph above shows colon cancer cases among people under 50 years of age by year. There is a drop in 2020 because the Covid pandemic caused fewer people to show up for screening.
Evan White of Dallas was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer at the age of 24 after going to the hospital to have a tonsil abscess removed. On the right is Marisa Maddox, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 29. Now she can’t have any more children.
Colon cancer cases have increased by 50 percent among adults under age 50 in the U.S. since 1999, which is considered “early-onset” cancer, or when cancer occurs between the ages of 18 and 49. years.
Studies suggest that globally cases have increased by 80 percent in the age group in three decades, to 3.26 million cases a year in 2019 from 1.82 million in 1990.
Countries seeing the biggest spikes include Ecuador and Korea, where cases in the age group are increasing by about five percent each year. according to a review.
In the United States, the disease will become the leading cancer killer among those under 50 by 2030, researchers suggest.
It is already the number one cause of death from cancer in men and the number two cause in women. In the late 1990s, it was the fourth leading cause of death.
At the same time, cancer rates among older adults, for whom it is much more common, continue to decline.
The new global studies will be led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Washington University in St Louis, Missouri.
They will be joined by Dr. Tim Spector, a dietitian at King’s College London in the United Kingdom., who will investigate how changes in diet can affect cancer risk.
Dr Spector said: “We applied because bowel cancer, especially in younger adults, is a growing problem.
“Our range of multidisciplinary skills can play an important role, especially when it comes to nutrition and the gut microbiome.”
He added: “People with rare and early cancers do not receive as much research attention, so this is a key opportunity to better understand risk factors and how to improve prevention.”
The graph above shows the seven factors that scientists say increase the risk of colon cancer in younger men.
Bowel cancer can cause blood in your stool, a change in bowel habit, a lump inside the intestine that can cause blockages. Some people also experience weight loss as a result of these symptoms.
The researchers hope that their studies can be used to help advise people on ways to reduce their risk of developing colon cancer.
The researchers, called Team PROSPECT, received the grant for their research from Cancer Grand Challenges.
The organization, funded by the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, and Cancer Research UK, in London, awards grants every two years for cancer research.
Other teams that received grants included a group researching solid tumors in children and another researching the use of the immune system to treat the disease.
Among the young colon cancer patients is Evan White, 24, of Dallas, who was diagnosed with cancer just after graduating from the University of Arkansas with a degree in finance.
His tumor was not detected until it progressed to stage three, meaning it had spread outside the colon and making it much more difficult to treat.
White was on track to marry his girlfriend and move to California, but his dreams were cut short when he died after a four-year battle with the disease.
Others include Marisa Maddox of Delaware, a paralegal who was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 29.
Treatment for the condition has left her unable to have another child.
Doctors don’t know what is causing the rising rates of colon cancer among young people, but they have blamed everything from antibiotics to obesity and even a fungus.
A study published last year by researchers at the University of California, San Diego suggested that a high-fat diet could be behind the increase.
Researchers theorized that this diet had caused inflammation, which then increased the risk of colorectal cancer, a type of disease notoriously difficult to treat.
Another paper also published last year by Harvard researchers suggested a link with breast milk, after finding that women who were breastfed as babies were 40 percent more likely to develop the condition before they turned 55.
And a third paper from the Cleveland Clinic suggested that a diet rich in red meat and sugar could be to blame for the change.
Many patients miss cancer in the early stages, when it is easier to treat because the symptoms are non-specific.
Colon cancer is a type of cancer in which cells begin to divide uncontrollably in the colon or rectum.
It is difficult to detect in the early stages because symptoms, such as changes in bowel habits, are difficult to detect.
This increases the risk that the cancer will not be detected until later stages, when it has spread to other areas of the body and is much more difficult to treat.
Doctors say that when cancer is caught early, more than 91 percent of patients survive more than five years after their diagnosis.
But if this is delayed, the survival rate drops below 13 percent.