Christine Molmenti<\/a>, an associate professor and cancer epidemiologist at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Great Neck, N.Y., who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n\u201cUltimately, they are extensively processed to the point where they are devoid of their inherent nutrient value,\u201d she added in a news release. \u201cFood manufacturing in the U.S. has dramatically changed over the last century where we barely recognize the food or the ingredients in the foods that we are eating.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the new study, researchers analyzed 24 years of data from a long-term health study of female nurses born between 1947 and 1964.<\/p>\n
Their analysis included more than 29,000 nurses who received at least two lower endoscopies before they turned 50 to screen for early signs of colon cancer.<\/p>\n
Nearly 2,800 of the women had developed pre-cancerous polyps that were found during their colon cancer screening, researchers found.<\/p>\n
The participants also completed diet surveys every four years, from which researchers estimated their average intake of ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n
On average, the nurses ate 5.7 servings of ultra-processed foods per day, amounting to 35% of their total daily calories, researchers said. That\u2019s slightly lower than the U.S. national average.<\/p>\n
Women who ate the most ultra-processed foods \u2013 10 servings per day on average \u2013 had a 45% higher risk of developing pre-cancerous polyps in their colon, compared to women who ate three servings a day on average.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the strengths of our study was that we had detailed information about other colorectal cancer risk factors in the participants, such as such as body mass index, type 2 diabetes and low fiber intake,\u201d Chan said. \u201cEven after accounting for all these other risk factors, the association with ultra-processed foods still held up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though the study featured women, Molmenti said its findings likely apply to men as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a message for the entire population,\u201d Molmenti said. \u201cIf you did the same study and replicated it in a large cohort study among men, you might find the same result. This does not show any disparity between men and women in terms of risk factors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers are now working on ways to better categorize ultra-processed foods, since some might be more harmful than others.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re also trying to identify other risk factors for early-onset colon cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiet isn’t a complete explanation for why we’re seeing this trend \u2014 we see many individuals in our clinic with early-onset colon cancer who eat very healthy diets,\u201d researcher Chan said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Molmenti noted that there are many ways that ultra-processed foods might increase colon cancer risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that we eat touches our colon; good or bad,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Junk foods and ultra-processed foods can disrupt the microbiome, Molmenti said, and can also lead to inflammation. In addition, they can lead to insulin resistance and metabolic dysregulation so that the body and colon are not in sync.<\/p>\n
“And, they’re just not in a format that they can prevent disease,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
\u201cUltra-processed foods and junk foods promote disease, and that is why this study, I think, is showing that there is this increased risk among young women under 50 who are consuming large amounts of these foods,\u201d Molmenti said.<\/p>\n
More information<\/p>\n
Yale School of Public Health has more on ultra-processed foods<\/a>.<\/p>\nSOURCES: Mass General Brigham, news release, Nov. 13, 2025; Northwell Health, news release, Nov. 13, 2025<\/p>\n
What This Means For You<\/p>\n
People who want to reduce their colon cancer risk and improve their health should cut down on the processed foods they eat daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Takeaways Eating lots of processed foods might increase colon cancer risk among younger adults Women under 50…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,7714,32279,50975,90143,131187,18133,26607,14428,82673,2998,131188,71798,84,90144,14426,395,131186,13471,6373,3379,25794],"class_list":["post-289698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cancer","tag-colorectal-cancer","tag-consumer-news","tag-determinants-of-health","tag-diet-nutrition","tag-dietary-fiber","tag-dieting","tag-diseases-and-disorders","tag-fat","tag-food","tag-food-additive","tag-food-processing","tag-health","tag-health-promotion","tag-medical-specialties","tag-nutrition","tag-polyp-medicine","tag-self-care","tag-sugar","tag-type-2-diabetes","tag-ultra-processed-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}