"It's unclear why colon cancer cases have doubled in people under 55 over the past two decades, a staggering rise that has alarmed doctors and cancer researchers.
But part of the story could be colibactin, a toxin made by certain strains of E. coli and other bacteria. In a study out this week, researchers have identified a strong link between this DNA-damaging toxin and colon cancer among younger patients."
My eldest had E. coli when she was younger, and this is constantly on my mind, personally, what I have done is make sure she gets walnuts daily and a Bulgarian probiotic drink called Ayran (it's a bit like kefir but has Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which is considered somewhat of a super probiotic)
Anyway, the logic behind it is that i want to shift gut microbiome toward a healthier balance and keep it there, to limit space for harmful strains / reduces dominance of any one bad actor (aka the cancer one/s)
Other than that, almost no processed foods and other basic nutrition things.
These levels of bowel cancer in young people are pretty scary so we have to try and control what variables we can
Every time I'm in a medical office talking about diet to doctors and nurses they all say the same thing - shift to a plant-based diet asap. Plus, they are big on avoiding nitrates - essentially an ingredient in processed meat like ham, sausage etc.
couldn't manage plant-based myself, but i only eat two actual meals a day and don't eat processed meats generally, but i think diet is probaby the biggest clue in whats driving the cancer rates, fiat food all around
Understood. I still rely heavily on chicken, but I've reduced red meat to maybe once every two months. I was using pork as a heavy alternative, but the nitrates on most pork products are heavy, so it looks like that's going to get limited as well now.
yeah, seems like modern food is basically a minefield
Do they have an explanation for why that would be a bigger problem now?
Something in the way millenials and younger were raised may have exposed them to a different type of e.coli more than before. My suspicion, which is a totally wild guess, some kind of very popular processed fast food that was prone to developing that strain...
I had the same thought