Live data from Hacker News

Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

wsj.com

21–30 of 35 posts

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#21
post #6

If you are avoiding a colonoscopy because you don’t want to get knocked out, they can do it while you’re awake. If for some reason you don’t want to be anesthetized you can just ask. It is also cheaper this way and you can drive yourself home. Based on my limited research it seems like anesthesia is mostly there because people are prude. The painful parts of procedure doesn’t hurt any more than having bad gas pain. A…

How about DNA based stool tests instead of colonoscopy?

It's a low specificity test. If you get a false positive you'll be getting a colonoscopy anyway, and (less of a risk, but still worth considering) if you get a false negative it's a bit of a problem. That's how my gastro explained it, and a bit of my own internet research supported.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#22
post #7

Perhaps too much red meat and not enough fiber? "But foods with fiber can have other good effects as well. They can help you stay at a healthy weight and lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer" https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

Fiber is the cause of many of intestinal issues, making constipation and crohn's disease worse. Red meat also helps people stay at a healthy weight, lower the risk of heart disease (caused by glucose) and some types of cancer (which feed on glucose). What do fiber and red meat have in common? They are not sugar. You could replace fiber with other indigestible material such as sand, the effect would not be much differ…

> Red meat also helps people stay at a healthy weight, lower the risk of heart disease (caused by glucose) and some types of cancer (which feed on glucose).

Are you a lobbyist for beef? This is not at all what research says, and research has said mostly the opposite for decades.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To give another perspective on this, all my intestinal issues resolved when I eliminated fiber from my diet. Two other people I very intimately know that had IBS have managed their symptoms into remission by carefully gatekeeping fiber in their diets. last I was deep into this (5yrs ago or so) almost all of the prominent nutritional science was based on survey data and seemed to extrapolate way more than I was comfor…

Its a good perspective, however perhaps your body just cannot deal with a higher amount of fiber compared to others. In the same way that diabetics need to tightly control their sugar intake, it doesn't mean therefore that need for sugar is up for debate.

My greater point is that there is no one size fits all here. And generalizing things that are supposed to cover everyone like above is not always helpful, but can be actually harmful.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#24
post #7

Perhaps too much red meat and not enough fiber? "But foods with fiber can have other good effects as well. They can help you stay at a healthy weight and lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer" https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

Fiber is the cause of many of intestinal issues, making constipation and crohn's disease worse. Red meat also helps people stay at a healthy weight, lower the risk of heart disease (caused by glucose) and some types of cancer (which feed on glucose). What do fiber and red meat have in common? They are not sugar. You could replace fiber with other indigestible material such as sand, the effect would not be much differ…

Dietary fiber is a great way to reduce colorectal cancer risk: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266615432...

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#25
post #7

Perhaps too much red meat and not enough fiber? "But foods with fiber can have other good effects as well. They can help you stay at a healthy weight and lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer" https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

To give another perspective on this, all my intestinal issues resolved when I eliminated fiber from my diet. Two other people I very intimately know that had IBS have managed their symptoms into remission by carefully gatekeeping fiber in their diets. last I was deep into this (5yrs ago or so) almost all of the prominent nutritional science was based on survey data and seemed to extrapolate way more than I was comfor…

I found a big difference between soluble (trouble for me) and non-soluble fiber (okay, within limits).

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#26
post #6

If you are avoiding a colonoscopy because you don’t want to get knocked out, they can do it while you’re awake. If for some reason you don’t want to be anesthetized you can just ask. It is also cheaper this way and you can drive yourself home. Based on my limited research it seems like anesthesia is mostly there because people are prude. The painful parts of procedure doesn’t hurt any more than having bad gas pain. A…

I think most people are not used to having things stuck up their ass.

That's an incredibly easy thing to change. It takes little money, a flared base, and only mild curiosity.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#28
At least one decades-old study that had purported to show that the herbicide glyphosate posed no health (esp cancer) risk to humans was retracted in late 2025 (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/climate/glyphosate-roundu...). Glyphosate may be applied multiple times in a season, both to control weeds but also onto the actual desired crop (i.e. the stuff that gets turned into food for humans and for other animals) as a desiccant a week or two pre-harvest. The official line is that glyphosate that isn't absorbed directly by leaves and other above-ground plant tissues "tightly binds" to soil and is quickly and completely broken down by soil bacteria, though it is also admitted that plant roots can absorb glyphosate and that it can subsequently be transmitted throughout plants. So I would not discount the possibility that some level of glyphosate accumulation in the soil and bioaccumulation in food crops could also be occurring alongside residues from spraying.

In other words, dietary fiber in general or specific forms (e.g. Metamucil aka Psyllium husk) could be effective in lowering CRC risk or could have been so in the past but consumption of real-world dietary fiber in the current era in which glyphosate-based herbicides are in increasingly wide use could now be increasing cancer risks.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#29
I had some concerning digestive issues a few years ago at 36. Tried repeatedly to get a colonoscopy done, but was told I was too young. Fought with my doctor for almost a year to get a referral to a specialist (standard procedure in Canada). Then had to fight the specialist to finally order a colonoscopy. I finally had enough and lied about blood in my stool to get one. Luckily the digestive issues turned out to be stress related and nothing serious, but guess what they found during the procedure?

3 pre-cancerous polyps! Might have saved my life, as the recommended age for first screening here is 50! I'm now on a schedule to get checked every three years.

Re: Colorectal cancer is now the top cause of cancer death in younger people

#30
post #7

Perhaps too much red meat and not enough fiber? "But foods with fiber can have other good effects as well. They can help you stay at a healthy weight and lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer" https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

To give another perspective on this, all my intestinal issues resolved when I eliminated fiber from my diet. Two other people I very intimately know that had IBS have managed their symptoms into remission by carefully gatekeeping fiber in their diets. last I was deep into this (5yrs ago or so) almost all of the prominent nutritional science was based on survey data and seemed to extrapolate way more than I was comfor…

I started eating Brian Johnson’s superveggie about 4 times a week (it is about a pound of Brokkoli and cauliflower plus lentils and mushrooms) and can only say that my digestions thrives on it after a few days. So at least in my gut something needs to change so it can deal with the huge amount of dietary fiber but once it is settled it makes me feel much better overall
Post reply on HN