To catch colorectal cancer early, advocates push to make 'poop talk' OK

To catch colorectal cancer early, advocates push to make 'poop talk' OK April 30, 20266:00 AM ET Yuki Noguchi start08/iStockphoto/Getty Images No one ever mentioned to Rick Rivers that his grandfather died of colorectal cancer — until Rivers himself was diagnosed at age 31. Cancer felt like a taboo topic in his family, where diabetes, for example, was not. And especially so, because of where the cancer grew in his body. "There's a shame factor to talk about certain areas of your body and them not functioning the way that they're supposed to," says Rivers, a father of three in Williamstown, N.J. So the topic never came up, he says, even though colorectal cancer occurs more often and is more lethal among Black people like himself. Sponsor Message Living Better Scientists search the microbiome for clues to the rise in colorectal cancers Colorectal cancer incidence keeps increasing, and it is now the type of cancer most likely to kill people under age 50. The fact that it's killing so many is a baffling paradox for Dr. Neil Parikh, a gastroenterologist at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut because it is entirely preventable. It takes years for those tumors to grow, and colonoscopies or fecal tests like FIT or Cologuard can reliably catch cancers early enough that they're relatively easy to treat. "This is a cancer that if you find a polyp — a little pimple on the inside — and you remove it, you can prevent it," Parikh says. "Yet we're seeing this rise." Insurance limitations or lack of awareness can prevent people from getting screened. But Parikh says one of the biggest overarching challenges is the persistent stigma and reluctance to discuss this part of the body. Life, after diagnosis Help is growing for the heavy emotional toll cancer takes on young men The solution, he argues, is simple: "We need to talk more about poop." Parikh notes it's this key patient demographic of younger adults where this scatological silence is most intense. "If you mentioned farting to my 8...