Cutting This One Food Could Drastically Reduce Your Cancer Risk, Mainly in the Colon

EATING WELL, May 6, 2025 - "Just this week and last week, we saw patients as young as 16 years old [being diagnosed with colorectal cancer]," said Pashtoon Kasi, M.D., medical director of gastrointestinal oncology at City of Hope, Orange County. "It was a challenging conversation." Just a few years ago, this would have been an anomaly, a case study for medical journals. Now, it's becoming disturbingly common. 

Colorectal cancer was once considered a disease that primarily affected those in their 60s and beyond. Today, the rising incidence in younger populations has become so concerning that screening guidelines have shifted, recommending tests begin at age 45 instead of 50.1 While multiple factors likely contribute to this troubling trend, processed meat consumption increasingly appears to be a significant player in this unfolding public health crisis.2

Other factors such as environmental pollutants, genetic predisposition, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, antibiotic use, declining rates of preventive screening and chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) play important roles.1 This means that the development of colorectal cancer cannot be directly attributed to processed meat consumption alone. Rather, research suggests processed meats may be a more significant contributing factor than previously understood, particularly when combined with other risk elements.