Worrying increase in bowel cancer in the young, fit & healthy

[notyetretired]

Just curious to know why this is?

There have been lots of reports lately reporting that the incidence of bowel cancer has increased to a worrying degree in the young, attributing it to a number of possible causes (e.g. microbiome/gut bacteria, processed food & meat consumption, obesity, screening younger etc).

However, many clinical experts have been baffled as to why they are increasingly seeing those who are genuinely young, fit and healthy (consuming no or very little meat/processed food and alcohol and who are into regular exercise). Several high profile cases fit this - Bowel Babe to name just one.

I'm curious to know why this is so? Of course, various studies are still ongoing any researchers on here with theories or observations as to what might be behind this rise? Also interested in more anecdotal evidence as to life style issues that might be contributing and which fit the timelines of the increases.

@MrsWhattery like I said, you're arguing with a straw man. There are people in this thread talking nonsense, and that is what I was railing against. I'm not confused about anything in terms of cancer research. I do wonder why you're choosing to align yourself with the, erm, scientificially challenged people on this thread. Perhaps you haven't read the whole thing.

No, you’re straw-manning by saying that people talking about these possible risk factors are as bad as covid conspiracy theorists. And you straw-manned me by suggesting I was defending all the posters on the thread. I was responding specifically to your outlandish claim

@MrsWhattery You seem very passionate about this. I wonder why. I think my reasons are clear.

Sorry you have stage 4 cancer 13 Like you I will just listen to advice from my oncologists and I'm am sorry for the stress this thread must be causing you.

I've asked before - does anyone know how we can move this elsewhere (I'm the OP and have asked twice before but don't know how to get to Admin) - maybe General Health?

Sorry ignore - I see that this has already been moved to General Health, so no longer on the Cancer thread.

Thanks Admin!

I'm sorry for anyone who has cancer, but my objections to being accused of being no better than a conspiracy theorist, and supporting upsetting posts by other posters on the thread, which are not true, have nothing to do with that. And if people on the thread haven't disclosed their own health status, you don't know if they have cancer too.

I actually agree with you. It's very easy to cry 'conspiracy theorist' but it was far off the mark and it just closes discussion. A lot of the various issues brought up here, whether diet or environmental, are valid causes to investigate.

Thanks notyetretired I appreciate you getting my point.

Oh don't worry, I'm not at all stressed by it. As I said earlier, it's been an eye-opener. I won't say anything further here - apart from anything else there seems to be a serious lack of reading comprehension, if not wilful intent to misunderstand. Go and touch grass, people 😂

Oh also, no need for anyone to feel sorry for me! Gotta get back to work 👋

My friend has stage 4 cancer. She has refused standard treatments offered by the hospital due to a bad experience with radiotherapy when she previously had cancer. She was diagnosed 18 months ago and asked what her life expectancy would be without treatment. They told her she'd be lucky to get a year. She completely changed her diet. Reduced processed food and went plantbased. She's also using RSO and other herbal treatments. Her oncologist is amazed she is still here and not only that but her rumours have shrunk and she currently has no active cancer on her scans. She feels better than she did before the diagnosis.

Some people are predisposed to getting cancer regardless of their lifestyle but it's doesn't mean we should just not bother trying to reduce our risk or at least increase of lifespan.

I had bowel cancer in my 40s. Vegetarian since age 16, active, never smoked, rarely drink. No family history. I did at that time have a 3 yo. Oncologist said it was random and that it had been growing about 2 years.

I met quite a few other women with bowel cancer who had young children, and wonder if there is also a link there. All had given birth in their late 30s or early 40s.

Two of my children in their 30s have recently been diagnosed with colitis.

I think you need to be careful promoting this kind of approach, there are many cases where this approach has not worked sadly.

I often wonder if we are seeing the long term effects of Chernobyl. It happened in 1986, I don't think some farming areas were cleared to put food back into the food chain until 2012. I wonder how much the radiation affected us all. Not sure if the increase in cancer is more evident in Europe than other parts of the world.

@ElizaB22 interesting, Ukraine is known as the bread basket of Europe because of its grain production, it’s one of the top agricultural exporters.

My mum (76) was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, she had to have a colostomy, stoma bag fitted. My aunt (mums sister) died from a mega colon/burst bowel about 10 years ago. I have crohn's, diagnosed 9 years ago in my mid 30s. I've always suffered from stomach aches, weird issues that point towards crohns, I've definitely had it my whole life but it only got bad enough to visit the doctor after having my son. I've had various ups and downs with food issues, restricting and binging, abusing laxitives, I used to smoke, binge drunk in my 20s etc but non of that would've changed my outcome as its part of me. Who I am. Stopping the smoking and drinking helps but it's still there, waiting to pop up when I'm run down, tired or it just feels like making itself known.

Lots of PPs have already commented on artificial sweeteners, additives, junk food, UPF diets etc. I also think it could be due to how we cook our food i.e. the types of pans we use, plastic chopping boards, all these appliances that have come into play over the last 30 years - waffle makers, toastie machines, nutribullets, airfryers, coffee machines...

But then rates would be rising across the board in all age groups. They aren't - they are apparently falling in older adults. It is the younger age groups where colon cancers are rising, and this is in the UK, the USA, and Australia, just from what I've read. So it's not some local pollution problem, for example.

You would expect falling rates of bowel cancer in the older population due to the introduction of bowel cancer screening programmes, it’s literally what they were designed to do. Screening doesn’t just diagnose bowel cancer, it prevents it too by the removal of polyps.

Stress, anxiety and the internet - influenced by the influencers/Facebook fantasy lives, trying to have the perfect figure with all the diet and food advice that changes every five minutes. Younger people are sucked into it unlike many older folk like myself. I've often wondered about this as a factor for illnesses in a younger cohort.

Screening detects it. It doesn't alter the rate at which it occurs.

Sorry but you are wrong. You need to read up on the polyp to cancer life cycle. Not all polyps turn to cancer, but the vast majority of bowel cancers start as a polyp. By removing polyps you can literally prevent a cancer from occurring. That’s why the funding came for the screening program because the Government recognised that prevention of cancer saves money not just lives!

Polyps are very common, and usually harmless. Most screening programs involve a faecal occult blood test, not a colonoscopy, which is where polyps would be found, removed and biopsied.