People are being urged to avoid overeating two popular foods after scientists discovered a link between them and a deadly disease. Eating red meat and sugar may increase the risk of colon cancer, according to a new study.
With more than 44,000 diagnoses each year, this disease is one of the most common cancers in the UK.
In addition, the disease is particularly deadly and causes the second highest number of cancer deaths each year.
And in recent years, the disease has caused even greater concern in medical circles as more and more young people are being diagnosed with the disease.
Between the early 1990s and 2018, the number of adults aged 25 to 49 in the UK diagnosed with bowel cancer (also called colorectal cancer) increased by 22 percent.
Although the exact cause of this development is not known, it is hypothesized that diet may be to blame.
And these latest findings support the assumption that our diet has a significant influence on the risk of colon cancer.
The research, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), also found that people under 50 diagnosed with colon cancer had lower citrate levels.
Citrate is produced when food is converted into energy and is lower than in older people diagnosed with colon cancer.
Speaking to Medical News Today, Dr. Suneel Kamath, lead author of the study and a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said: “In our study, we used a technology called metabolomics, which looks at the breakdown products and production building blocks of our bodies. We wanted to find out if there are differences between young and older people who develop colon cancer.
“Because metabolomics measures how each individual interacts with the influences of our environment, such as diet, air quality, etc., it is a way to bridge the gap between our nature (which is determined by genetics) and our nurture (which is determined by our influences).”
“We found that a carbohydrate breakdown product called citrate (also called citric acid) is present in higher levels in older people with colon cancer than in people with young-stage colon cancer.”
The study involved 170 participants who had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 66 people had early-onset colorectal cancer and 104 had medium-onset colorectal cancer.
Scientists identified several metabolites that had different concentrations in the two groups, including citrate and cholesterol.
They found that there are significant alterations in metabolic pathways related to carbohydrate and protein metabolism in early stage colon cancer compared to average stage colon cancer.
These results suggested that factors such as excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or red meat, as well as obesity, which contribute to energy surplus, may be risk factors for the development of colorectal cancer at a younger age.
Dr Kamath added: “These findings, which are still preliminary and should be further investigated, suggest that focusing on reducing obesity rates and also reducing the consumption of red meat and sugar in our diets could help prevent cancer, particularly colon cancer.
“It is important to note that this does not mean that ‘sugar feeds cancer’ in people who already have cancer. However, reducing sugar consumption in healthy people without cancer could help prevent the disease from developing in the first place.”
To reduce your risk of bowel cancer, the NHS advises you:
- Eat healthy and eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day
- Stay active and exercise regularly
- Losing weight when overweight
- Quit smoking
- Drink less alcohol
- Eat less red and processed meat.
