Update on early-onset cancer in young adults: new evidence using machine learning suggests a link between early-onset colorectal cancer and processed foods via the gut microbiome

In June 2024, I published an article on the early onset of cancer in young adults. In it, I explained that accelerated aging could be associated with changes in the gut microbiome leading to the onset of early colorectal cancer.

A recent study investigated the relationship between diet and the gut microbiome in patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (n=20), average-onset colorectal cancer (n=44) and cancer-free or control patients (n=49), using machine learning (ML) classifier model software. ( https://doi.org/10.1038/s41698-024-00647-1).

The researchers found that metabolites (by-products of food metabolism), particularly those of the urea cycle derived from overconsumption of red meat or processed foods, are associated with changes in the gut microbiome (the collection of microbes living naturally in our gut) in patients with early-onset colorectal cancer compared to patients with average-onset colorectal cancer or cancer-free patients. These metabolites, stimulate the growth of certain bacteria observed in abundance in patients with early-onset colorectal cancer, whereas they inhibit the growth of a certain number of bacteria in patients with average-onset colorectal cancer. The increased number of bacteria in patients with early-onset colorectal cancer are known to have carcinogenic potential.

Despite the small size of the study, this result is remarkable as it paves the way for further research into the link between processed foods, the microbiome and early colorectal cancer. The authors plan to launch a larger US-wide study.

Techniques used in this trial are highly sophisticated, and the application of a machine-learning classifier model shows that AI can help advance science in far more productive ways.

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