Colorectal or colon cancer is on the rise among young people in the United States. 20% of Americans currently living with colon cancer are under the age of 55, which is more than double the rate in 1995.
Doctors have been working tirelessly to find out why so many young adults in America are developing this specific kind of cancer. Now, they believe they have their answer, and it’s really quite simple: Americans are eating too much sugar and not enough fiber.
The Rise of Colon Cancer in America’s Youth
Over the past several years, the number of young adults with colon cancer in the U.S. has been steadily climbing. In fact, early onset colon cancer is now the number one cause of cancer death in people between the ages of 20 and 49.
As doctors around the country are treating more and more young Americans for colon cancer, they’ve been desperate to understand why this is happening.
One Step Closer to Understanding the Colon Cancer Crisis
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago at the start of June, 40,000 doctors met to discuss cancer, including causes and treatments, in the United States.
One group of researchers from Ohio State University presented something extremely interesting. While their paper hasn’t been published yet, the researchers told the other oncologists that their study revealed that all young patients with colon cancer had something in common —fusobacterium.
What Is Fusobacterium?
Fusobacterium is a bacteria that increases inflammation in the gut after binding with pro-inflammatory proteins. While the bacteria is sometimes found in the mouth, it’s rarely noted in the gastrointestinal tract.
The researchers from Ohio State believe that the fusobacterium they found in the intestines of young patients with colon cancer is not a result of cancer but the cause. Therefore, they then had to find out what was causing the excess of fusobacterium.
A Deadly Diet Combination
In their extensive research, the scientists found evidence to support their theory that the excess fusobacterium in the guy was caused by an excess amount of sugar and an insufficient amount of fiber.
Sugar naturally releases glucose into the blood, whereas fiber slows the release of that glucose and feeds the gut-healthy bacteria to minimize inflammation. Consequently, without sufficient fiber, the high-sugar protein bacteria were able to grow rampant.
95% of Americans Don’t Eat Enough Fiber
This hypothesis is supported by the fact that 95% of Americans don’t eat enough fiber in their daily diet. The USDA recommends 25 to 30 grams of fiber every day for healthy adults, but most Americans consume only about 10 to 15 grams a day.
Consequently, if a lack of fiber can lead to colon cancer, it would certainly explain why so many Americans develop the disease.
How Does This Diet Combo Increase the Risk of Colon Cancer?
The study noted that the lack of fiber coupled with the excessive amount of sugar in the patients’ diets led to the growth of bacteria that caused sustained inflammation in the colon cells.
This constant inflammation, also known as inflammaging, caused the cancer cells to age far more quickly than the other cells in the body.
Young Patients With Colon Cancer Seem to Have Older Colons
According to the data collected by the Ohio State University team, several colon cancer patients under the age of 50 were living with the colons of someone up to 15 years older than they truly are.
As older cells are more vulnerable to cancer due to life-long damage, essentially, Americans are getting colon cancer much younger because their colons are actually older.
Older Patients With Colon Cancer Didn’t Show the Same Results
What’s interesting about this study is that it also explored the colons of patients with colon cancer over the age of 50. However, researchers reported that the cells in their colons looked to be the same age as the younger patients’.
In other words, researchers confirmed that colon cancer wasn’t aging the cells — it was the aging cells causing the colon cancer. And they believe that the diet of young Americans is unquestionably causing this sad reality.
Some Doctors Argue That Energy Drinks Are Causing Colon Cancer
While the new theory proposed by the Ohio State University research team is already widely accepted, there are other medical professionals who believe that energy drinks could also be causing the significant uptick in young people with colon cancer.
Energy drinks became wildly popular at the turn of the new millennium and were widely marketed toward America’s youth. Therefore, previous generations, like Baby Boomers, drank far fewer energy drinks than Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. Some doctors believe these dangerous drinks are causing the influx of young people with colon cancer today.
What Is Taurine?
The theory, presented by researchers at the University of Florida, proposes that the main ingredient in energy drinks, taurine, could increase a person’s risk of developing colon cancer.
The team explained, “Our hypothesis is that high taurine levels in energy drinks could exacerbate [colon cancer] risk by promoting preferential growth and metabolic activities of already present H2S-producing bacteria, contributing to the rise of [early-onset colon cancer].”
Keep Your Colon Healthy: Eat More Fiber and Skip the Energy Drinks
As of July 2024, no doctor can say with absolute certainty what is causing the immense increase in young people with colon cancer. However, there is sufficient evidence to support both the fiber-sugar and the taurine theory.
Therefore, for everyone, young and old, it may be time to ditch the energy drinks and find ways to incorporate more fiber into your diet. Even if it comes to light that taurine and a lack of fiber don’t directly cause colon cancer, your body will still thank you.
