I got put under and had probes inspect my gastrointestinal tract. Down my throat and up the anus. It was my first bidirectional endoscopy. Right before the anesthesiologist injected, I thought "This is the end. This is how I die. What could make the internet happier?" Then it was lights out. This was important to do because colon cancer is now the #1 cancer killer under 50, and rising fast. Early onset colorectal cancer incidence has more than doubled since 1994, climbing roughly by 3% per year in 20 to 49 year olds and 8% in 20 to 29 year olds. Even though I routinely do all sorts of painful things to my body and mind for this project, this procedure had been weighing on me. I didn't want to go under and, you know, didn't love the idea of the probes being snaked through my body. Glad it's over and it honestly was not as bad as I had anticipated. Here are my results: + doctor gave me a 10/10 score + no polyps + no inflammatory bowel disease + no diverticulosis, a common colon-aging marker + we are awaiting biopsy results Colonoscopy screening can save your life. A meta-analysis of over 4.7 million people found colonoscopy was associated with 52% and 62% reduction in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. A regular full body MRI (I get one every 6 months) can't reliably detect early colon lesions or polyps. A colonoscopy remains the gold standard for both detection and removal. The recommended screening age has been lowered from 50 to 45 in 2021. Half of early colorectal cancer cases now fall in 45 to 49 year olds. Obesity is a genuine colorectal cancer risk factor. A meta-analysis involving over 66,000 participants found obesity raises early colorectal cancer odds by roughly 50%. Yet it is unlikely to fully explain the under 50 surge. A new study surfaced an unexpected culprit. Across 10 cohorts and 29 lifestyle and environmental signatures, comparing tumor DNA methylation in early-onset (<50) vs late-onset (≥70) colorectal cancer, one signal stood out: the herbicide picloram. Early onset tumors showed ~3 fold higher odds of carrying the picloram methylation signature in the discovery cohort, and 1.77-fold across all 10 pooled cohorts (114 early onset vs 372 late onset). Across 94 US counties over 21 years (1992 to 2012), picloram-use intensity correlated with increase in EOCRC incidence, the most robust signal among 62 pesticides tested. Early onset tumors carried a lower obesity methylation signature than late onset, suggesting that environmental toxins, more than metabolic dysfunction, are the dominant epigenetic driver in young patients. Epigenetic drift drives biological aging and most age-related disease: chemicals assumed safe because they aren't directly genotoxic may still predispose us to cancer and chronic disease over decades through methylation and gene-expression disruption It's time to ring the alarm: every additive chemical in our food, water, and environment needs re-evaluation through a long term, population-based epigenetic and gene expression lens, not just acute genotoxicity assays Epigenetic disruption by environmental toxins is likely a key driver.
