Should colorectal cancer screenings start at age 45?

Colorectal Cancer Canada is recommending provinces and territories should “commit to lowering the routine colorectal cancer screening age to 45 for average-risk Canadians.”

Thursday’s press release argues that lowering the screening age from 50 is “a change experts say is urgently needed to reflect rising rates of the disease among younger adults.”

An American Cancer Society research letter released in January also highlighted that colorectal cancer is now “the leading cause of cancer-related death among individuals under the age of 50 in the United States.”

This trend is mirrored in Canada with incidence rates steadily increasing among adults aged 45 to 49.

Read more to find out about the recommendations.

Cervical cancer is ‘fastest-rising’ form of cancer in Canada

Cervical cancer is the “fastest-rising form of cancer” in Canada and a “silent national health crisis” that doctors say the federal government must do more to eliminate.

That was the message from a press conference on Wednesday from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada in Ottawa, and comes despite the Government of Canada’s action plan released in July 2025 that committed to “eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040.”

“Canada is currently serving a silent national health crisis,” said Dr. Shannon Salvador, president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada, on Wednesday morning. “While many celebrate the advancements in modern medicine, there is an alarming outlier.”

Salvador said that in 2025, an estimated 1,650 Canadians were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 430 would die from the disease, which she said was “avoidable.”

Read more to find out about the warning.

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Gen Z drinks less, but uses more nicotine than other generations

Gen Z Canadians are drinking less than older generations — but they’re using more nicotine products, a recent insurance report has found.

Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29 drink the least of any generation, with less than one per cent reporting they drank daily, a report by insurance firm PolicyMe shows. This was in contrast to the age group over 60, in which almost five per cent said they drink daily.

The results of the report are based on self-reported lifestyle choices from insurance applications.

However, this age group had the highest reported daily use of nicotine products (7.3 per cent) of any age group, the report said. In all other age groups, only five to six per cent said they use nicotine every day.

This includes all forms of nicotine use: vaping, e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes and products like chewing tobacco.

Read more to find out about the report.