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.
My guess is some combination of PFAS, micro plastics, glyphosate sprayed all over our “roundup ready” GMO crops (namely corn which is in fucking everything), and chemical additives to the food.
No. It’s because a massive amount of us don’t move around anymore, eat shit for food and are obese. This article lays it out pretty well. I don’t know why this is a mystery. We’re fatter than ever, we move less than ever, we drink more than ever, and we eat like shit. This isn’t rocket science. Lose the weight, move, eat healthier, and stop drinking in excess. Otherwise keep doing it and have a hogh risk of cancer at a early age.
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.
An old acquaintance of mine just died of GI cancer at age 38. He was a semi professional American football player. He was an athlete who was never out of shape in the time I knew him. I don’t know how his diet / drinking habits were, but he was far from sedentary. It was really shocking to hear he’d passed. I think there’s something bigger than lifestyle choices going on with this trend.
That’s a single anecdote and the person you’re replying to quoted the article.
Maybe we shouldn’t have been eating plastics and pesticides all our lives.
Do you have any sources to support your claim that these cause an increase in gastrointestinal cancer?
I would like to point out that recent studies have actually shown that one of the biggest risks for gastrointestinal cancer is actually a lack of fiber.
Sources :
And artificial sweeteners, extra sugars.
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.
People do less of these things now than they did in the 1960s and 70s, but cancer problems are up.
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.
I wonder how many patients also have Helicobacter pylori?
