Diets high in fruits and vegetables may be protective against early onset colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality, while candy and sweet snack consumption may be a risk factor, William Oelsner, MD, said during his oral paper presentation at the 2023 ACG Annual Scientific Meeting on October 23, in Vancouver, Canada.

Dr Oelsner is a gastroenterologist at the University of Tennessee HSC College of Medicine in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

For his research, Dr Oelsner was awarded Outstanding Research Award in the Colon Category (Trainee) and named an ACG Newsworthy Abstract in the Colon Category.

On a national level, the relationship of food environments, dietary patterns, and food costs play a vital role in the high mortality among patients with early onset CRC. Dr Oelsner defined food environment as the “physical, economic, and sociocultural context in which people obtain and consume food.”

The national retrospective cohort study included 68,495 patients between ages 20 and 49 with colorectal cancer who lived in 1307 counties in the continental United States.

The investigators found a significant positive correlation between soft drinks (r = 0.37, p< 0.01) and meat/ poultry (r=0.07, p< 0.01) consumption and mortality. The results found that countries with high early onset CRC follow an unhealthy food environment which translates to fewer fruits and vegetables and more meat, soda, and sweet snacks. The early onset CRC mortality rate was “higher and deeply concentrated in the Southeast US,” Dr Oelsner said.

What is the clinical relevance of the findings? “We can invest in more population based public health initiatives aimed at improving the food environment, and that may in turn lower early onset CRC mortality, particularly in Southern US,” Dr Oelsner concluded.

Reference:
Oelsner W. 6- Early onset colorectal cancer mortality Is higher in the Southeast US and significantly associated with poor food environment. Presidential plenary session 1. Presented at: 2023 ACG Postgraduate Course. Vancouver, Canada. October 23, 2023.