Colon cancer can send loud warning signs to let you know something is wrong, but doctors say it can be awkward for patients to discuss the symptoms.

“People are maybe sometimes uncomfortable about talking about that part of their body,” Dr. Jennifer Inra, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, tells TODAY.com.

“People are sometimes nervous about the screening tests.”

Colorectal cancer — which starts in the colon or the rectum, the last 6 inches of the digestive system — used to be considered an older person's disease, but it's now the top cause of cancer death in men under 50 and second in women in this age group, according to the latest statistics from the American Cancer Society . Doctors don't know why it's rising in younger people but suspect lifestyle and

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