Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center — June 2026
It is not only colorectal cancer that doctors are diagnosing more frequently in patients below the age of 50 — other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are also rising in young adults, explains Christina Wu, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Arizona. “People under 50 are not too young to develop gastrointestinal cancers. If young adults notice new or persistent symptoms, it’s important to get them worked up,” Dr. Wu says. Research shows that the most common type of early-onset GI cancer worldwide is colorectal cancer, followed by stomach cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Several factors can increase the risk of developing early-onset GI cancers, including genetic conditions such as Lynch syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis; chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease; and lifestyle factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, diets high in processed foods, alcohol consumption, smoking and environmental exposures. Symptoms that may warrant investigation include unintentional weight loss with jaundice and pain (potentially indicating pancreatic cancer); weight loss and difficulty eating or swallowing (stomach cancer); and a persistent change in bowel habits, abdominal pain and iron-deficiency anaemia (colorectal cancer). “Any new symptoms that are persistent or worrisome should prompt a visit to a healthcare professional to get checked out. Recognising symptoms early is important,” Dr. Wu explains. With advances in genetic testing and tumour profiling, cancer care teams can now provide more personalised and targeted treatments including immunotherapy in some cases. Mayo Clinic researchers are also exploring the use of artificial intelligence as an additional aid in the detection of GI cancers such as colorectal and pancreatic cancer.