Ultra-processed foods may help explain rising bowel cancer in under-50s, study suggests
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.Ultra-processed foods 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 food 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.Writing in the journal Jama Oncology, Chan and colleagues report how they studied data collected as part of the US-based Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), which began in 1989 and involved female nurses born between 1947 and 1964.From 1991, participants were asked to complete a food questionnaire every four years in which they reported how often they had eaten various items over the previous 12 months.The team studied data from 29,105 participants who had completed the questionnaires, undergone a colonoscopy at some point after 1991, and did not have a prior history of polyps, inflammatory bowel disease or any type of cancer other than non-melanoma skin cancer.
These participants were followed until June 2015, by which time all had reached the age of 50.By then, 1,189 cases of early-onset conventional adenomas and 1,598 cases of another type of polyp, known as a serrated lesion, had been recorded.The team divided participants into five equal sized groups based on their UPF consumption, finding that compared with the group that ate the least UPF – on average 3.3 servings a day – the group that ate the most – on average 9.9 servings a day – had a 45% greater risk of having early onset conventional adenomas once factors such as BMI, smoking and physical activity were taken into account.
However, there was no associated risk of developing serrated lesions.The study has limitations including that it is based on participants’ recall of food, may be complicated by difficulties in classifying foods as UPFs, did not look at the development of bowel cancer itself, and cannot prove UPFs cause the development of polyps.However, Chen said there were several plausible mechanisms that could explain the results, noting UPFs had been associated with metabolic disorders linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes that were associated with an increased risk of bowel cancer.He also said UPFs could promote a general state of chronic inflammation, or might impact gut microbes and the gut lining.Chan said while it was likely the results would also hold for men, more research was needed.
“It doesn’t suggest that if you eat UPFs, that you are inevitably going to develop cancer.That’s certainly not our message,” he said.“But it’s a piece of the puzzle in terms of what might be driving underlying cancer rates.”Fiona Osgun, the head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said that while the study did not directly measure cancer risk, it offered a useful insight into how diet might influence early changes in the bowel that sometimes led to cancer.Osgun added that policy-level changes were needed to make healthier diets more accessible for everyone.
“Our overall diet matters more for cancer risk than any single food type,” she said.
‘Are you building communities or just houses?’: human cost of Birmingham council’s plans for Druids Heath estate
Xylia Legonas was just a few years off fully repaying her mortgage and had just finished refurbishing her house after a fire when someone knocked on her door in 2023 and asked if she was aware of the Druids Heath regeneration project.“The first thing I thought: ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to knock my house down’,” she recalled. “He basically said yes and I thought: ‘What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?’”After years of discussions, councillors have now approved planning permission to knock down most of Druids Heath, a postwar housing estate on the southern edge of Birmingham, to create higher density housing.In total, 1,800 homes will be demolished to make way for 3,500 new ones, 400 (11%) of which will be designated as affordable, according to the planning documents – 800 fewer than there are now.This was the main point of contention at the planning committee meeting in which dozens of Druids Heath residents crammed into the room and adjoining corridor to voice their anger – shouts of “these are our homes” and “it’s not enough” could be heard throughout
Ultra-processed foods may help explain rising bowel cancer in under-50s, study suggests
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.Ultra-processed foods 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 food 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
Council staff visited wrong address day before Sara Sharif’s murder, review finds
Services in Surrey failed to identify that Sara Sharif was at risk of abuse, did not question unexplained bruising, and staff members visited the wrong address the day before her murder, a safeguarding review has found.Sara, 10, was killed by her father, Urfan Sharif, and her stepmother, Beinash Batool, in August 2023 after years of escalating brutality that left her with bruises, burns, human bite marks and at least 25 fractures.She was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home after her father fled to Pakistan, leaving a handwritten note saying he had “lost it”.A child safeguarding practice review, commissioned after Sara’s murder, revealed that on 7 August, the day before Sara was killed, the council’s home education team attempted to carry out a home visit but went to the family’s old address.The mistake was spotted when staff returned to the office, but a rescheduled visit wasn’t due to take place until September
The rapid rise of renters in their 60s: ‘I hate the idea of house-sharing – but I have no choice’
It is often assumed that people of retirement age will no longer have housing costs to cover. But for a significant and growing group, this is far from the caseNow that she is retired, Deborah Herring’s days are hers to fill – usually with leisurely walks, museums and trips to the theatre. But she still manages to spare a thought for her ex-colleagues at the private boarding school where she taught religious studies for 14 years. “In their nice, expensive Oxfordshire village, I think they’d be frankly horrified about my situation,” she says with a laugh.Horrified that a few weeks ago she came home to find two strangers asleep on her sofa; horrified that she has to put up with an overflowing litter tray belonging to a cat that isn’t hers; above all, horrified that at the age of 65, she is about to leave a two-bedroom flatshare to move into a four-bedroom one where she will “probably be living with people whose combined age is less than my own”
Deaths linked to antibiotic-resistant superbugs rose 17% in England in 2024
The number of deaths linked to superbugs that do not respond to frontline antibiotics increased by 17% in England last year, according to official figures that raise concerns about the ongoing increase in antimicrobial resistance.The figures, released by the UK Health Security Agency, also revealed a large rise in private prescriptions for antibiotics, with 22% dispensed through the private sector in 2024.The increase in private prescribing is partly explained by the Pharmacy First scheme, a flagship policy of Rishi Sunak’s government that allows patients to be prescribed antibiotics for common illnesses without seeing a GP, raising questions about whether the shift in prescribing patterns risks contributing to the rise in resistance.“Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest health threats we face,” said the UKHSA’s chief executive, Prof Susan Hopkins. “More people than ever are acquiring infections that cannot be effectively treated by antibiotics
High blood pressure rates in children nearly doubled in 20 years, global review finds
The rate of children and teenagers living with high blood pressure globally has nearly doubled because of a toxic combination of unhealthy diets, mass inactivity and soaring levels of obesity, according to the largest review of its kind.Experts said 114 million children who have developed hypertension even before reaching adulthood were facing potentially deadly and lifelong harm, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and a myriad of serious health complications.The prevalence of high blood pressure in children and teenagers under 19 has increased to 6.2%, rising from 3.2% in the space of just 20 years
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