Colon cancer rates for young people are up in NC. Here’s how to protect yourself
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Colorectal cancer rates rose 51% in people under 50 since 1994.
- Experts link colon cancer risk to diet, obesity, inactivity, meats and other exposures.
- Average-risk adults should start colorectal screening at age 45.
Colon cancer rates have risen sharply in the last decade, especially for younger people.
Those rates have increased 51% in people younger than 50 since 1994, climbing about 3% per year since 2011 for people aged 20 to 49, according to University of Chicago Medicine.
We spoke with North Carolina doctors about how to mitigate the risk of colon cancer, new treatments and advocating for screenings.
What causes colon cancer?
Some colon cancer cases are caused by genetics, but many are caused in part by other factors like diet, exercise and obesity. There are environmental factors as well, including a potential link to microplastics and a potential link to pesticides.
Novant Health Oncologist Keithe Shensky said when she sees genetic screenings for young people with colon cancer, the cause is rarely genetic.
“It’s good that we’re looking into other exposures, like microplastics. Because if you look at some of the statistics, people born in the 1990s have a higher risk of colorectal cancer than those born in the 60s. So something changed, and I think a lot of it is lifestyle, but I don’t know if that’s the complete picture,” Shensky said.
Nicholas DeVito, a medical oncologist at Duke researching immunotherapy for colon cancer, said it can be difficult to give advice about avoiding colon cancer, because there are many potential factors; not all are well understood and some are not well within people’s control.
DeVito said he tries to focus on giving people actionable advice.
Limiting processed meats and foods
Shensky and DeVito both emphasized the effect of diet on colon cancer risk. Shensky said that while research on environmental factors is still emerging, we know that diet is a concern.
Their advice?
- Cut back on red meat.
- Cut back on meats with nitrites, such as beef jerky, bacon, pepperoni and deli meats.
- Eat a diet that is high in fiber.
- Avoid ultraprocessed foods when possible.
“Beef jerky, etc., is known to cause stomach cancer, and it has been known for a very long time. I don’t know why Slim Jims don’t have a warning, but cigarettes do,” DeVito said. “I wish people just knew ‘I am taking this risk by eating this, you know. I’m increasing my risk by eating red meat, by eating nitrated foods.’”
DeVito also said he is concerned about barriers to accessing necessary healthy food and potential links between socioeconomic status and colon cancer.
“We need to figure that out in this country, and we need to make the ends meet somehow, because it’s crazy that we have people that live in between farms and cities and don’t have access to fresh food,” DeVito said.
Exercise, or at least stand up from your desk
Obesity is also a risk factor, and can be aided by exercise and diet.
Shensky and DeVito both said that it is important to take steps to avoid a sedentary lifestyle.
“I think it’s very common for us to get into the grind of working in an office job, not being very active, going for convenient foods. And it takes work, it takes work to be active, and it takes work to eat properly,” Shensky said.
DeVito added that even if you don’t exercise often, it is important to stand.
“People say sleep is the cousin of death? No, it’s sitting. Sitting is the cousin of death. Stand up, walk around, move,” DeVito said.
“Rectal cancer is particularly increased by sitting for long periods of time. I’m going to get a standing desk, and I’m going to eat less red meat, and I’ll do exercise when I can. That’s pretty damn good,” he said.
At what age should you get a colonoscopy?
People of average risk for colon cancer should get a screening or colonoscopy at age 45.
People with a family history of colon cancer cases that appeared under the age of 55 should get screened 10 years before their family member’s case appeared.
Both Shensky and DeVito said that patients sometimes are not evaluated for colon cancer despite showing symptoms.
Symptoms include:
- Abdominal pain
- Rectal bleeding
- Change in bowel habits
- Weight loss
- Low hemoglobin
“For young people, if you develop symptoms, and I think this is really important, these symptoms shouldn’t be ignored… we shouldn’t just brush that off and attribute it to, ‘oh, maybe I’m a little stressed or anxious,’” Shensky said. “Maybe, but there are some people who develop those symptoms, and they are found to have colorectal cancer.”
Shensky also said that there are other options if a colonoscopy feels intimidating, like a colonography CT or stool-based tests for cancer cells.
Pay attention to your body, advocate for yourself
Sometimes the symptoms are attributed to other problems, DeVito said, or a colonoscopy isn’t performed when it should be.
“The audacity of a lot of primary care and other physicians to be dismissive of patients is not lost on me, and I’ve heard a lot of patients who struggle to get diagnosed because not because they didn’t recognize that rectal bleeding or pain or changes in their bowel habits were a problem, but they either couldn’t get access to a colonoscopy or the correct kind of provider in time, or their symptoms were simply ignored,” DeVito said.
He stressed that it’s important to pay attention to your body and advocate that your symptoms be adequately addressed, including journaling or documenting abnormalities with pain and stool.
