Colon cancer is on the rise among young adults, and experts now say pencil-thin stool is a warning sign of “great concern.”
Dr. Michael CecchiniHe is co-director of the Colon Program in the Digestive Cancer Center and a medical oncologist at Yale Cancer Center. Speaking to The Huffington Post The stool of people with colon cancer can be very thin.
“This tends to happen when the tumor is near the end of the colon or lines the entire inside of the colon, narrowing the way stool can pass,” Cecchini said this week. “If you have this symptom, it’s very worrying.”
Thin stools are most alarming if they represent a new and persistent change in bowel function.
As reported by The Washington Post, colorectal cancer diagnoses in people in their 20s and 30s are worrying medical professionals: 20% of new colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in people under the age of 55, up from 11% in 1995.
A gastroenterologist at Tufts University recently Regarding the obesity epidemic, he noted that excess body fat is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.
Among the common cancers, Joel MasonSenior Scientist Jean Mayer, United States Department of Agriculture, Center for Aging and Human Nutrition Research According to Tufts University, “colorectal cancer is one of the cancers whose risk is most sensitive to dietary factors.”
Experts are urging everyone to be aware of the warning signs of colon cancer. Constipation symptoms gaining attention on social media.
For reference, healthy stool is long and sausage-shaped and comes out in one piece or several small chunks.
Dr. Jeffrey DukerDr. Ian, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told HuffPost that noticeable changes in your bowel habits, like how often you go to the bathroom or a change in the shape or consistency of your stool, could be a sign of something more serious.
Other common symptoms of colon cancer include unexplained weight loss, blood in the stool, and abdominal pain, which Duker emphasizes that while these can be signs of colon cancer, they aren’t necessarily signs.
However, people, especially young people, are more likely to ignore warning signs or downplay symptoms.
Medical experts agree that undergoing a colonoscopy is key to catching colorectal cancer at its earliest, most treatable stage.
Testing usually begins at age 45, but people with symptoms or a family history of colorectal cancer may be able to get tested earlier.
“It’s important to detect cancer early, through screening or being alert for some of these symptoms, so that we can diagnose it at an earlier stage and make it easier to treat and more likely to be cured,” Cecchini explains. “We cure the vast majority of people with this cancer every year.”
