why is this disease affecting more and more young people?

Known for his role in the flagship 90s series “Dawson's Creek”, actor James Van der Beek has publicly announced that he has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

“It's cancer… Every year around 2 billion people around the world are diagnosed with this. I'm one of them,” the 47-year-old actor said in an Instagram post. An admission he made to “raise public awareness”, in his own words.

What is colorectal cancer?

Colorectal cancer develops from the cells that line the inner lining of the colon or rectum. Most often, these malignant tumors arise from a benign tumor, called an adenomatous polyp, which grows slowly and eventually becomes cancerous.

It is a common cancer in both men and women, and it represents the second cause of death from cancer for all sexes combined, according to Public Health France.

According to the latest studies, this type of cancer has increased by 50% among people in their forties over the last three decades in Western countries, explains Doctissimo. And although the majority of bowel cancers affect people over 50, their numbers remain stable, unlike the increase in cases among younger people.

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What are the symptoms?

Most often, and although they can vary from one person to another, these are rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, involuntary weight loss and a change in intestinal transit.

If the symptoms are the same in younger patients, they tend to ignore them, thinking that they are hemorrhoids or less serious causes. A Taiwanese study of 5,000 people of different ages affected by the disease revealed that 6 out of 10 people under the age of 50 suffered from bleeding before diagnosis, but had not gone to see a doctor.

Why this increase among those under 50?

The answer is not clear-cut, but doctors are putting forward overlapping ideas, particularly on diet and the consumption of processed foods. At the Daily Mail, oncologist Joe O Sullivan explained: “The rise in cancer rates among young people must be due to something we are eating. And ultra-processed foods are the biggest lifestyle change in the last 40 years. years”.

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Le Dr. Chris van Tulleken, dont le livre Ultra-Processed People was a bestseller last year, has “no doubt” that the two are linked, he still explains to the Daily Mail. “We have more than a dozen quality studies indicating a link between cancer and ultra-processed foods,” he said.

Professor David Cunningham, consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden, also expressed concern about the phenomenon. “Although it remains relatively rare, we are seeing more and more young adults with colorectal cancer at various stages,” he explained. “It doesn’t seem like it’s just that we’re diagnosing the disease more effectively.”