Risk aligns with quantity in research that might offer a clue to the rise in under-50 cancer cases.
Colorectal cancer diagnoses have become increasingly common in adults 50 or younger in recent years, particularly in high-income countries like the U.S. The drivers of the trend are unclear, but a new study led by Harvard and Mass General Brigham researchers, as part of the Cancer Grand Challenges PROSPECT team, suggests an important link to ultraprocessed foods.
By analyzing diets and endoscopy results, the study of almost 30,000 women found that participants who consumed the highest levels of ultraprocessed foods had a 45 percent higher risk of developing adenomas, which can be precursors of early-onset colorectal cancer, compared with participants who consumed the lowest levels. The results are published in JAMA Oncology.
“Our findings support the importance of reducing the intake of ultraprocessed foods as a strategy to mitigate the rising burden of early-onset colorectal cancer,” said senior author Andrew Chan, a gastroenterologist at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute and a professor at Harvard Medical School. “The increased risk seems to be fairly linear, meaning that the more ultraprocessed foods you eat, the more potential that it could lead to colon polyps.”
The consumption of ultraprocessed foods — ready-to-eat foods that often contain high levels of sugar, salt, saturated fat, and food additives — has risen in parallel to the rise of early-onset colorectal cancer. Chan’s research group previously found an association between ultraprocessed foods and colorectal cancer more broadly, but this is the first study to link ultraprocessed foods with early-onset colorectal cancer.
“Even after accounting for all these other risk factors, the association with ultraprocessed foods still held up.”
