Colorectal cancer has exploded among American kids and teens over the past two decades, and when it strikes the young, it's deadlier—and doctors are still years behind on figuring out why.

Over 20 years, colorectal cancer rates have jumped fivefold among children ages 10 to 14, more than tripled among teens 15 to 19, and nearly doubled among young adults 20 to 24, the New York Post reported. The American Cancer Society separately found that incidence among people under 50 has climbed 2.9% annually from 2013 to 2022. This isn't a glitch in the data. It's a trend—and it's accelerating.

New research set to be presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics' national conference paints a grim picture. Researchers examined 84 patients aged 21 and younger diagnosed with colorectal cancer between 2012 and 2023. The median age was just 16.5 years old. Eighty percent had no family history of the disease. By diagnosis, more than half had already reached stage 3, and 29% were stage 4—meaning the cancer had spread to distant organs. By the study's end, 45% of these kids were dead.

Gizmodo noted the research has yet to undergo peer review—worth bearing in mind. But the body count is hard to dismiss.

Part of the problem is delay. The median duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 12 weeks. Doctors dismiss the warning signs—abdominal and back pain, changes in bowel habits, unexplained weight loss, rectal bleeding—because colorectal cancer is still considered rare in the young. The symptoms overlap with hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome. So kids get sent home with advice to eat more fiber while a tumor spreads.

When caught early—stage 1 or stage 2—the five-year survival rate is roughly 90%. Once it advances, those odds crater. The overall five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer today is 63%, according to Gizmodo. Nearly 37% of the young patients in this study saw their cancer return after treatment, and almost all relapses were late-stage.

What's Making Them Sick?

Here's where the story goes quiet. Researchers told the Post they believe the causes include obesity, a Western diet heavy in processed meat and sugar, and environmental exposures—microplastics, pesticides, antibiotics, and infections like E. coli. That's a long list of suspects and zero accountability.

Neither outlet pressed hard on why the medical establishment took this long to notice. The food industry profits from the processed diets researchers now finger as culprits. The chemical industry profits from the pesticides and plastics now showing up in human tissue. There's no profit in asking uncomfortable questions about what's poisoning American kids—but there's plenty in looking the other way.

The study authors urge doctors to take symptoms seriously in younger patients, especially unexplained weight loss and rectal bleeding. That's the bare minimum. The real question—what is exposing a generation of children to a disease that used to belong to the elderly—remains unanswered.