Processed food clue to rising bowel cancer in the young

Women under 50 who have a diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) stand a greater risk of having abnormal growths in their bowel that can lead to cancer, research suggests.

- Nicola Davis

UPFs are typically defined as industrially produced products that are often ready to eat, contain little in the way of whole foods, fibre and vitamins, and are typically high in saturated fat, sugar, salt and additives.

While the concept is not without controversy, not least around whether all UPFs are unhealthy, studies have suggested such foods are associated with a host of health problems, from higher risk of heart disease to early death.

Now researchers say women who have a greater intake of UPFs have a greater risk of the early onset of a common type of bowel polyp known as conventional adenomas.

Dr Andrew Chan, the lead author of the study based at Massachusetts general hospital in the US, said the study was prompted by an effort to understand what was driving rising rates of bowel cancer in younger people. “The vast majority of these polyps do not become bowel cancer. But at the same time, we know the vast majority of bowel cancers we see in young people arise from these precursor lesions,” he said.