‘Living a healthy lifestyle, paying attention to medical data and statistics, and behavioral modification are vital to minimizing the risk of major illnesses, including cancer.’
MY wife, Farida, a retired pediatrician, sent me the alarming medical paper entitled “Why are colorectal, other GI cancers, on the rise in younger people?”
The obvious first question is “Why,” since most cancers are seen among people older than 60. In general, one in every 100 individuals is diagnosed with cancer today, according to the National Institutes of Health. In 2025, there are18.6 million individuals in the USA who are living with a history of cancer.
Here’s the summary from MNT, which she forwarded to me:
“Increasing age is the greatest risk factor for all types of cancer, with most cases being diagnosed in people over the age of 60.
However, in people under 50, there has been a rapid, worldwide increase in cancers of the digestive system, or gastrointestinal cancers.
Although still far less common than in older people, early-onset colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men, and the second in women, in the United States.
The exact cause is unknown, but the authors of a new review published in the British Journal of Surgery suggest that obesity, a Western-style diet, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, smoking, excessive alcohol use, and even exposure to microplastics may all be contributing to the rise. (Consumption of soft drinks, processed and ultra-processed foods, and charred barbeque foods are other contributing factors in both young and old.)
Another study, published in Nature Medicine, has further estimated that, without early intervention, as many as 15.6 million gastric cancer cases may occur in the next few decades, most of which are attributable to infection with a common bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.”
The data further stated: “The researchers note that early-onset cancers of the colon and rectum had increased the most. People born in 1990 are more than twice as likely to develop colon cancer and more than four times as likely to develop cancer of the rectum than those born in 1950. They identified global increases in colorectal cancers.
A study of 20 European countries showed that between 2004 and 2016, colorectal cancers had increased by almost 8% for those aged 20–29, almost 5% for people aged 30–39, and by 1.6% in the 40–49 age group. Even more shocking are figures from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control Wonder database in the U.S., which identified a 333% increase in the incidence of colorectal cancers among 15 to 19-year-olds and a 185% increase among people aged between 20 and 24.”
Everybody should be alarmed by this scary discovery. Living a healthy lifestyle, paying attention to medical data and statistics, and behavioral modification are vital to minimizing the risk of major illnesses, including cancer. To a great extent, except for genetics, almost all risk factors are modifiable, within our control, placing our medical “fate” greatly in our hands.
A poison called ‘soda’
For more than half a century, I have been warning people, in my lectures and in my newspaper columns, about the poisonous nature of soft drinks and diet sodas. The toxic phosphoric acid in them is one of the unhealthy components in these beverages, especially for young people, elevating their risk for metabolic syndrome, “a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing the risk for heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.”
I surmise everyone knows drinking soft drinks is not healthy, and the question is whether diet soda is a healthy option. Past studies have linked drinking diet soft drinks (with aspartame and sucralose) to various risks, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney ailments, metabolic syndrome, and even cancer.
New research has revealed that women with type 2 diabetes who choose to drink water over diet soda “may be more likely to achieve weight loss, as well as diabetes remission.” – 85th Session, American Diabetes Association.
Measles can kill
A highly contagious viral disease, measles is spreading in the United States and some other countries, and has raised serious concerns. It is airborne and can be transmitted rapidly in buses, trains, and on planes.
Measles can be spread by respiratory droplets (sneezes and coughs), by touch, and by contact with contaminated surfaces. Particularly vulnerable are children, older adults, those who are unvaccinated, travelers, and immunosuppressed individuals.
One out of 20 measles patients will develop pneumonia, and 1 in 1000 will have brain swelling that can cause deafness and intellectual disability. Nearly 3 in 1000 who are infected with measles will die. While measles appears to be benign among young children 5 and below, it can kill. It is more deadly among adults.
The best protection against measles is vaccination. The MMR vaccines (two doses) provide lifelong protection against measles.
Talk to your physician about what’s best for you.
New test for Alzheimer’s
There are over 55 million people around the world with Alzheimer’s disease, about 7.2 million in the United States alone this year.
The challenges in diagnosing Alzheimer’s may be alleviated with a new blood test, Lumipulse, approved last May by the US-FDA. This test detects abnormal clumps of protein, known as amyloid plaques, in the brain. These plaques impair brain function and are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Previously, physicians used PET scans and spinal fluid to detect the plaques.
Microplastics inside us
There is a rising concern about the adverse effects of microplastics on our bodies. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, everyone has an average of about 7 grams of microplastics in their brain, which is about the size equivalent of a plastic spoon. Microplastics are also in various organs of the body. While research is still ongoing, microplastics remain a suspect in the increasing rate of diabetes T2, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, thyroid illnesses, and Alzheimer’s. Microplastics could be found in fruits and veggies, in the atmosphere, in bottled water, and food items in plastic containers, plastic bags, plastic wraps, and even in glass bottles/jars with metallic lids. It’s time to use ceramics, glass, and stainless steel instead of anything plastic.
