Thread

Colorectal Cancer Is Rising Among the Young, Even Kids and Teens

42 points · 34 comments · gumby

Loading the complete thread in the background. This saved snapshot is available now. Refresh

swingandamiss · 1790969736 · focus · HN ↗
> hypotheses as to why rates are rising in younger people, including processed foods, higher obesity rates, and certain infections
Lack of moving/walking with long periods of sitting, being overweight, no fruits or vegetables and too much highly processed food/junk. It appears to be somewhat self inflicted, but it's hard to live a better life for most as the above is just the norm now.
1. williamtell · 1790971052 · focus · HN ↗
  Sure but it is rather paradoxical as healthy lifestyle things are far more available like every other consumer option. There's just the higher probability of choosing the more immediately satisfying new choices and/or of envying those who do.
  1. estearum · 1790972657 · focus · HN ↗
    “System prefers lower-energy state” is not paradoxical at all.
    It’s just about the most fundamental law in the entire universe, in fact.
    williamtell · 1790973738 · focus · HN ↗
    I didn't say what people prefer is a paradox. There is more availability and use of health related choices that violate this "law" but much more use of things that satisfy it. It would take a hell of a lot of healthy living to make up for cancer rates in 10% of the population having all the options and a dopamine addiction. Pretty remarkable the cancer rates are as low as they are.
  2. subscribed · 1791028883 · focus · HN ↗
    Do you mean healthy foods as well? They vary from "much more expensive than" normal" food (not necessarily just highly processed/worst), to "impossible to purchase at all" due to living in the place that doesn't offer these options.
    On top of that there's time cost - making healthy meals form scratch takes far more time than making them from store-bought "parts" (eg: to get boiled beans I need to soak them, them boil for hours. For this I need time, more time and a lot of energy)
    I think you're not taking the average human's reality.
    williamtell · 1791068032 · focus · HN ↗
    I think you are not aware of the average human's reality before 1980. The food deserts of today affect a small percentage of people. If you want something almost as healthy as the produce but prepared/processed you can buy it today but couldn't in 1980.
    subscribed · 1791081220 · focus · HN ↗
    Depends on the country.
    In '80s in mine we had mostly only healthy foods. Crap sold as food today was completely unavailable; the most unhealthy would be a birthday cake or additional slice of bacon on a plate.
    I think I am aware and I posit it's very hard for people on low I comes to even be able to buy a quality food.
    williamtell · 1791100323 · focus · HN ↗
    Unprepared food was pretty much the only healthy food in shops before 1980. Poor people were more likely to need two bread winners..
    The memes you are repeating do not match actual US or world statistics. They do make everyone feel better all around. I.e. even free enterprise and freedom of choice stories work worse when we are genetically tuned to choose ourselves to death and market tuned to profit from it.
    subscribed · 1791124317 · focus · HN ↗
    What memes?
    And you didn't even engage with my main point, it's very hard for people especially on the low income to not just eat but even access healthy foods.
    williamtell · 1791125024 · focus · HN ↗
    I did engage with your main point. Healthy prepared food did not exist in 1980 at a grocery store, the lowest income was more likely to need dual income and therefore not having more free time than now unlike richer people since 1980.
    Here is the actual data that says people were spending 50% more on food despite more prep time and lower health food options:
    <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/110333" rel="nofollow">https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/110333
    Your point is very socially satisfying but has no accuracy for why the majority of Americans are overweight or why the trend is global.
2. EA-3167 · 1790973296 · focus · HN ↗
  Those are certainly factors, but it’s madness to think they’re the only ones. We live in an increasingly polluted world, we truly don’t know what the long-term impact of ubiquitous microplastic, PFAS, and so on has. I’m sure increasingly unhealthy and low fiber diets don’t help, but I’d be skeptical of that as a full “explanation”.
  Sometimes trends occur due to complex circumstances we can’t pin down exactly, and it’s wildly unhelpful to pretend that you have a solution to a problem that boils down to, “wwweellllll they did it to themselves I guess.”
  1. randycupertino · 1790975823 · focus · HN ↗
    Also PFAS has been found to have links to colorectal cancer: <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12661558/" rel="nofollow">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12661558/
    <a href="https://research.uky.edu/news/markey-study-links-forever-chemical-pfos-colorectal-cancer" rel="nofollow">https://research.uky.edu/news/markey-study-links-forever-che...
    PFAS in drinking water linked to multiple cancers (oral cavity/pharynx, lung, digestive system, brain, urinary system, soft tissue, and thyroid):
    <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00742-2" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00742-2
3. therealpygon · 1790974484 · focus · HN ↗
  Ah yes. Kids are getting cancer “because they are fat and lazy”. How quaint.
  1. yjftsjthsd-h · 1790986857 · focus · HN ↗
    Nobody said anything about being lazy.
4. gwbas1c · 1790975013 · focus · HN ↗
  It's too early to jump to conclusions, it could be anything: A chemical used in bottles (for babies), traces of a chemical in infant formula, something in toothpaste, medicine, ect.
  Given the rise in colon cancer in middle-aged adults, I suspect the two (teenage and middle aged colon cancer) are related.
  The most ironic would be if it's caused by trace amounts of a fancy new pesticide used on a less-popular fruit or vegtable.
  1. mejutoco · 1790975669 · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe vaping
    superze · 1790976026 · focus · HN ↗
    I really hope not.
    techgnosis · 1790984664 · focus · HN ↗
    Heavy THC vaping absolutely screws up my bowels. The Munchies eventually changes into anorexia and constipation.
    gwbas1c · 1791141142 · focus · HN ↗
    Have you tried gummies?
    gwbas1c · 1791141101 · focus · HN ↗
    Well, let's not be those kind of people where, whenever something bad happens, we blame it on all the bad behaviors we don't like.
    That being said, how? What chemicals in vape juice are known to cause bowl problems? A lot of the health problems from vaping arose because the chemicals were safe to eat, but very toxic to inhale. (IE, popcorn lung.)
  2. jacobolus · 1790978287 · focus · HN ↗
    I would expect it to be substantially caused by persistent viral infections. Hopefully at some point in the future everyone gets a multi-strain HPV vaccine, and hopefully researchers continue to develop vaccines for other similar viruses.
  3. yrjrjjrjjtjjr · 1790980879 · focus · HN ↗
    The current paradigm of change something and wait half a century to see if it caused or prevented cancer is ridiculous. We can do better. Look at proxies and early warning signs. Do intervention and look at something like cellular aging, DNA damage, cell death rate ( renewal requires cell division which is error prone). Bring the feedback loop down to a year and maybe we can make some progress.
  4. strideashort · 1791045508 · focus · HN ↗
    Well for sure we absolutely certainly know what it absolutely certainly isn’t causing it so it absolutely doesn’t need to be researched.
    gwbas1c · 1791141320 · focus · HN ↗
    The parent was basically blaming people for living unhealthy lifestyles without a shred of evidence, even circumstantial. It's not helpful, and perpetuates negative "victim blaming" biases without justification.
    Or, to put it differently: It's not like the article said all the cancer patients were fat; and it's not a conclusion I'd jump to.
5. kelseyfrog · 1790975641 · focus · HN ↗
  Is this medical advice?
  1. lossyalgo · 1790977256 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    kelseyfrog · 1790978055 · focus · HN ↗
    It's fine that walking and moving is healthy, but it's a motte and bailey to claim that sitting is a cause of colrectal cancer and retreat to the motte that walking and moving is more healthy in general. Such a retreat doesn't exactly lend credibility to the original claim; it subtracts from it.
    lossyalgo · 1790979425 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
6. tonyedgecombe · 1791038423 · focus · HN ↗
  [delayed]
Aboutplants · 1790970547 · focus · HN ↗
How much of an impact does sitting for hours on end effect your risk of colon cancer? I’m not talking about lack of exercise but the physical act of sitting for 6+ hours a day, regardless of whether you get “adequate” exercise?
As someone with Crohn’s disease, I am sensitive to sitting for extended periods and its impact on my internals near my end. I’m sure there is some sort of effect, just curious if there has been any research
1. Fire-Dragon-DoL · 1790971773 · focus · HN ↗
  Same question: I exercise and eat healthy, but I sit for long stretches
  1. onemoresoop · 1790973085 · focus · HN ↗
    It's probably not too healthy to sit for too long. If unavoidable, eg. in schools, best thing is to periodically stand up for a while before contining with more sitting...
    Fire-Dragon-DoL · 1790975267 · focus · HN ↗
    No I work from home and could definitely get up, but when I get in the zone I literally forget, and getting up is often detrimental to my focus.
    Doesn't mean I can't do anything for it though.
2. peterbecich · 1790973748 · focus · HN ↗
  Has this factor really changed much in the past century?
  1. [deleted] · 1790974814 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
  2. unrented7977 · 1790976203 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, unequivocally.
khelavastr · 1791048590 · focus · HN ↗
side of body cancer develops on is closely linked to side of body phone is carried

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.