May 07, 2014 11:02 AM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

College students may be increasing their risk of cancer later on in life, according to a recent study.

Researchers from northwestern Medicine and Northeastern Illinois University found that the majority of college students are engaging in unhealthy behaviors that could increase their risk of cancer later on. Students of color could be at an even greater risk, especially African Americans and Native Americans.

They found that 95 percent of college students fail to eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables (five or more servings a day), and more than 60 percent report not getting enough physical activity (three or more days of vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes or five or more days of moderate exercise for at least 30 minutes a week).

"Changing unhealthy behaviors in college students now could be a way to reduce the risk of cancer as well as other diseases later in life," Brian Hitsman, principal investigator of the study, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers examined data from the fall 2010 wave of the National College Health Assessment, a self-reported survey of a diverse group of more than 30,000 college students in the United States.

Most students surveyed reported low fruit and vegetable consumption and low physical activity. Other unhealthy behaviors or conditions -- alcohol binge drinking, tobacco use and obesity/being overweight -- appear to cluster differently among college students depending on their race, the scientists found.

Researchers said tobacco use and alcohol binge drinking seem to go hand in hand for all subgroups except black students. For black students, tobacco use co-occurred with being overweight or obese.

"Tobacco use and obesity are two health issues that have been vying in the last five years for first place as the major health problem in the United States," Joseph Kang, lead author of the study and assistant professor in preventive medicine-biostatistics at Feinberg, said in a statement. "It's frightening that those behaviors seem to co-occur in black students."

Based on their findings, Native Americans were the only racial group in which there were students who engaged in all five unhealthy behaviors/conditions, including alcohol binge drinking, tobacco use, insufficient fruit and vegetable consumption, low physical activity and obesity/being overweight.

"There are major cancer disparities both in terms of risk, morbidity and mortality with racial and ethnic minorities in the United States," Hitsman said. "In this study, we see some of these behavioral risk factors already starting in young adulthood. Future research should monitor the persistence of cancer risk behavior clustering by race and ethnicity." 

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