Why are young people more prone to colon cancer in India?

India is seeing a significant rise in the number of colon or colorectal cancer in young adults said doctors on MondayThey blamed late diagnoses lack of screening and Western diet that is more processed and calorierich food as the major reasons for the riseSpeaking to IANS Dr Rajeev Jayadevan cochairman of the National Indian Medical Association Covid Task Force said that the majority of people in India get diagnosed with colorectal cancer in later stages Lack of better screening facilities and awareness about the disease among the people are the key reasons he saidldquoMany people do not have access to testing facilities or specialist doctors who do such procedures Unlike Western nations we do not have organised screening programmes in India In addition people tend to ignore red flag symptoms such as bleeding while moving bowels or get misdiagnosed as haemorrhoids or lsquopilesrsquo by their doctor Sometimes they go to local indigenous practitioners initially As a result they often present laterdquo said Dr Rajeev a Kochibased gastroenterologistA 2023 study by the Delhi State Cancer Institute DSCI showed that from people above the age of 50 the incidence of colon cancer is now increasingly shifting to young adults between ages 31 to 40 yearsldquoYoung onset colonic cancer is now seen to be on the rise in our country In fact some recent statistics have shown that almost onethird of colonic cancer which is affecting the country in India is seen in the younger age grouprdquo Dr Amit Maydeo Chairman of Institute of Gastro Sciences Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital told IANSldquoAnd the main reason is that the youngsters are adopting more and more of a Western lifestyle and their food is also now a calorierich diet and more processed foodrdquo he added He also blamed habits like smoking and alcohol obesity and inflammatory bowel disease as the reasons for the rise in colon cancerDr Rajeev said that in developed nations colonoscopy has been the standard screening procedure But in India this is not widely accepted or practisedldquoWe are not doing enough to prevent colorectal cancer in India Waiting for symptoms to appear is the wrong approach as many cases have no symptoms until late stagesrdquo he lamentedFamily history and eating nonvegetarian have long been known as major risk factorsBut Dr Rajeev told IANS that ldquocontrary to popular belief there are studies that show it is equally common among vegetarians Although it is more likely to occur among someone with a family history of similar cancer over 90 per cent of cases have no known family history Hence if we only look at these subsets of people we will be missing the vast majority of colorectal cancers A change in approach and mindset is requiredrdquoHe also suggested offering ldquoopportunistic screening colonoscopy to those who are interested in reducing their own individual risk of cancerrdquo starting from the age of 40This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever