Chasing Life

A new review of cancer registry records from 44 countries around the world has found that incidences of cancer in people under 50, or early-onset cancers, are rising rapidly for colorectal and 13 other types of cancers, many of which affect the digestive system. Much of this is happening in middle- and high-income nations.   The review’s authors note that the upswing is happening in part because of more sensitive testing for some cancer types, such as thyroid cancer. Lifestyle is also a large factor.   But Shuji Ogino, a professor of pathology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-author of the study, says the spike is due to an unhealthy stew of risk factors that are probably working together, some which are known and others that need to be investigated.   He notes that many of these risks have established links to cancer like obesity, inactivity, diabetes, alcohol, smoking, environmental pollution and Western diets high in red meat and added sugars, not to mention shift work and lack of sleep.   Ogino thinks the fact that so many of these cancers – eight out of 14 studied – involve the digestive system points to a big role for diet and the bacteria that live in our gut, called the microbiome.   Another interesting takeaway from the review was that the risk of an early-onset cancer increased for each successive group of people born at a later time. Those born in the 1990s had a higher risk of developing an early-onset cancer in their lifetime than those born in the 1980s, for example.   Among the cancers seeing spikes among younger adults are colorectal,  breast, endometrium, gallbladder and bile duct, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, stomach and plasma cells in the blood – a cancer called myeloma.   Cancer is a serious diagnosis at any age, but when it shows up in younger adults, the tumors are typically more aggressive. They often go undetected for longer because routine cancer screening isn’t recommended for some of the most common cancer types, such as breast and prostate, until age 50.   Although we don’t know the root causes of cancer, we know that we can take some preventive measures in our own hands. We can eat better and move more.   For those of who smoke, cigarettes are still a significant risk. Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other type of cancer – and people who smoke today have a higher risk of cancer than those who smoked in the 1960s, even though they may smoke fewer cigarettes. This may be because of changes in how cigarettes are produced and what chemicals are used.    We may still be working on a cure for cancer, but we can all still take steps to reduce our risk.