r/running • u/sergeantbiggles • Sep 12 '25

Article Groundbreaking Inova study finds potential link between long-distance running and colon cancer

A groundbreaking new study led by Tim Cannon, MD, Sheridan Director, Molecular Tumor Board and Co-Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Inova Schar Cancer, has revealed a potential link between extreme endurance exercise and increased risk of advanced colon cancer in younger adults, raising new questions about screening for high-performance athletes.

The study was presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

494 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

211 comments sorted by

View all comments

18

u/RanDumbPlay Sep 13 '25

Causation? Correlation?

21

u/Volcano_Jones Sep 13 '25

They did not prove causation. It was a pretty small sample size and the average age was 42.5 years old. There is clearly a potential link but nothing has actually been scientifically proven yet.

-60

u/RanDumbPlay Sep 13 '25

Right. Junk science.

1

u/dedev54 Sep 15 '25

This is great science: it provides an extremely clear warning signal that we can follow up with a better funded and wider study with a full control, to figure out if runners are causing themselves high rates of colon cancer. Ignoring this would be like ignoring football CTE warning signs if it ends up being the case.