Right now, colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). While this type of cancer has traditionally affected older adults, those rates have declined over the past several decades for people 65 and older and the rates in people under the age of 50 have risen.

In fact, individuals who were born in the 1990s are two times as likely to develop colorectal cancer than people born in the 1950s, the American College of Surgeons says. As a result of this concerning trend, in 2018, the ACS lowered its recommended age to start screening for colorectal cancer from age 50 to age 45. Advertisement

Researchers aren’t completely sure why this is happening, but a new study in JAMA Oncology sheds some light on a

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