Why are early-onset colorectal cancer rates spiking?

A story of how your microbiome breaks your DNA, and what we can do about it

Why are early-onset colorectal cancer rates spiking? A story of how your microbiome breaks your DNA, and what we can do about it Alan Tomusiak Mar 23, 2026 22 6 Share You may have heard that early onset colorectal cancer has doubled in the past 30 years. This claim is true, but undersells the phenomenon - “early onset” is medically defined as “under the age of 50.” If you focus only on colorectal cancer in children (individuals under 18 years of age), there has been a ~ 400% increase in incidence 1 . Why? To some extent the answer to this question is unknowable 2 , but a wide range of explanat

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