this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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Gastrointestinal cancers are rising dramatically in people under 50 (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 1 week ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/publichealth@mander.xyz
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Gastrointestinal cancers, which include colorectal, stomach and pancreatic cancer, are rising dramatically in younger adults, though doctors aren’t fully sure why. Even some of the possible causes require more research, they say.

According to a review published Thursday in JAMA, gastrointestinal cancers have become the fastest-growing type of cancers diagnosed in adults younger than 50 in the U.S.

The review, one of the most comprehensive looks at gastrointestinal cancer trends, summarized the findings of major international and U.S. cancer databases, plus 115 papers on gastrointestinal cancers published from January 2014 to March 2025.

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[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most early-onset GI cancers are associated with modifiable risk factors including obesity, poor-quality diet (eg, sugar-sweetened beverages, ultraprocessed foods), sedentary lifestyle, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption.

Well, that seems like it's very much fixable. Don't do the stuff you already know you shouldn't do.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

People do less of these things now than they did in the 1960s and 70s, but cancer problems are up.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

People in different countries do different things, but assuming you're talking about some random western country:

Sugar consumption is actually dropping compared to the 00's, but it's far from down to 1960s levels. We deeeefinitely smoke a lot less than back then, and most drink less alcohol too. We eat WAY more calories though, and are much less active. There is much more ultraprocessed food now and obesity is WAY up.

But mostly, we've gotten a whole lot better at diagnosing cancer. Almost nobody dies from "natural causes", it's all cancer, heart and vascular disease now, because we've learned to tell the difference. Diagnoses for "sickness of the [body part] are pretty much gone too.

And we've gotten a lot better at preventing other deaths too. Something will eventually kill you, and the better we get at removing other causes, the more likely it will be that either your heart or brain gives out, or you get cancer.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Tang? Banquet tv dinners? Hamburger helper? Rice A Roni?

Processed food has been around for a looong time. People still eat it, but most young people eat a lot less of it.

McDonald’s and its ilk have also been around since the 50’s but I’d argue their quality went frankenfood in the 1970s. Same with soda — HFCS started gushing out in the 80s.