Consuming more ultra-processed foods is linked to increased risk of developing precancerous polyps in women under the age of 50, according to a new study.
These growths, known as adenomas or polyps, can eventually turn into cancer, and their presence is a strong indicator of a person’s risk of the disease. The findings come as the rates of colorectal cancer in people under 50 have skyrocketed in recent decades.
This is not the first time UPFs have been linked to cancer.
Last year, The Dallas Express reported on a study from the University of South Florida that similarly drew a connection between UPFs and colorectal cancer. In that study, researchers theorized UPFs, increasingly prevalent in modern Western diets, could be driving up inflation, creating an environment where a body is more susceptible to developing cancer. In the more recent study, the researchers specifically suggest that ultra-processed foods may contribute to the types of polyps that can ultimately lead to the disease.
“One approach we’ve been taking is trying to understand what has changed in our environment that could be driving this. What are some trends that mirror this acceleration in cancer rates?” said study leader Dr. Andrew Chan, a gastroenterologist and the chief of the clinical and translational epidemiology unit at Massachusetts General Brigham in Boston, per NBC.
Researchers of the latest study used data from more than 29,000 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study II, an ongoing study that began in 1989. They discovered a connection between eating more UPFs and developing an adenoma before age 50. Since most colon cancers arise from adenomas, they concluded that consuming more UPFs was tied to a higher risk of eventually developing colorectal cancer.
“The strength was that we looked at two major types of polyps — it’s the adenoma type that seems to underlie cancer, and we saw the link between that,” said Chan.
“One thing that has been clear is that the U.S. intake of ultra-processed food has really risen in the past few decades in a way that mirrors the staggering increase in colorectal cancer cases,” he said.