Young people need to pay attention to six key factors to avoid becoming victims of a growing cancer epidemic, according to a major report.
They should avoid overuse of antibiotics, eat red meat no more than three times a week, use condoms and avoid excessive drinking, the country’s largest cancer research organization said.
Rising rates of multiple cancers in young people take center stage in the American Association for Cancer Research’s new annual report released last night.
Cancer is thought to be caused by a combination of genetics and environment, but about 40 percent of all diagnosed cases can be attributed to one of these risk factors, according to the report. Cervical cancer, for example, is linked to the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease.
Early-onset cancers in the U.S. have been increasing since 1995, including those of the colon, rectum, cervix, prostate, breast, and endometrium.
The AACR report estimated that two million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. across all ages by 2024.
Of these, about 4.2 percent will be people between 18 and 50 years old, who are traditionally considered too young to develop cancer.
Cancer is thought to be caused by an unfortunate combination of genes and environment.
Still, ACCR scientists said about 40 percent of all cases can be linked to six different modifiable risk factors.
For young people, these include: unhealthy diet, obesity, chemicals in the environment, antibiotics, alcohol and sedentary behaviors.
For starters, only about a quarter of adults and one in six high school students meet the CDC’s recommended exercise guidelines.
The agency says everyone should get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, such as jogging, swimming or playing sports, and two days of muscle-strengthening activity, such as lifting weights or kettlebells.
Low levels of exercise during youth are associated with the risk of developing cancer in adulthood.
The report also highlighted diet as a major factor in the development of cancers among young people.
Specifically, diets that rely on red meat, highly processed foods and lack fresh produce are cause for concern, AACR scientists said.
These recommendations lead the group to state that no more than three servings of red meat should be consumed per week.
They also say that processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon and salami should not be included in a regular diet as they have been linked to an increased risk of multiple types of cancer.
Teenagers and young adults tend to have less nutritious diets than older adults and opt for the convenience of fast food.
Forty-five percent of young American adults reported eating fast food daily between 2013 and 2017, compared with 37 percent of adults age 40 and older.
“Reducing or eliminating consumption of highly processed foods, fast foods and high-sugar foods and beverages is essential to curbing the obesity epidemic and reducing the burden of associated cancers,” the report said.
They also recommend avoiding beverages (such as soda, juice, canned coffee and energy drinks) that contain added sugars, as these have been linked to liver and colon cancer and diabetes.
Studies have shown that consuming one or more sugary drinks per day increases the likelihood of developing liver cancer by 1.8 times compared to those who do not consume them.
In response to these findings, the AACR report highlighted solutions such as a sugar tax.
Overall, early-onset cancer cases, defined as those between the ages of 18 and 50, have been increasing in the U.S. since 1995.
The latest NCI data on colorectal cancer only go through 2021, as does the most recent AACR report. The AACR is independent of the NCI and is a publicly funded charity.
This method, currently used in eight U.S. jurisdictions, results in a higher price for beverages made with added sugar.
The use of this tax significantly reduced the amount of sugary drinks consumed in the areas, according to research by the The Obesity Evidence Hub has concluded.
After sugar, researchers turned their attention to alcohol.
Excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of six different types of cancer (head and neck, throat, breast, colorectal, liver and stomach) and has been linked to 5.4 percent of all cancers in the U.S.
Young adults who consumed a lot of alcohol in early adulthood increased their risk of colorectal cancer before age 50 by 1.5 times.
“Unfortunately, knowledge about the link between alcohol and cancer is still low,” the report notes.
Alcohol affects each part of the body differently, but overall it can increase cancer risk by making it harder for our cells to respond to damage and change, making them more likely to mutate into cancerous growths. According to Cancer Research UK.
Additionally, drinking alcohol can temporarily wear down the cells in your mouth and throat, making them more permeable to other cancer-causing chemicals, such as cigarette smoke.
All of these factors can increase a person’s likelihood of becoming overweight or obese.
Being overweight was associated with 7.6 percent of all cancers in the United States. Obesity has been on the rise in the United States, increasing 37 percent since 2000 to about 41.9 percent in 2020.
There are 15 different types of cancer linked to being overweight or obese, from blood cancer to brain and bladder cancer.
Losing weight may be an effective way to reduce the risk of obesity-related cancers.
The report notes that previous cancer-reducing medical interventions, such as weight-loss surgery, have been shown to be particularly effective, and they are monitoring how newer treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy may also help prevent cancer.
In addition to these daily habits, researchers said other medical conditions may contribute to the rise in cancers in young people.
This includes the overuse of antibiotics.
Dr. Foti, the AACR’s executive director, said she hopes this will spur federal investment in cancer research, which she said has begun to see “extraordinary advances” in recent years.
Early signs of colorectal cancer include changes in bowel habits, abdominal cramps, weight loss and fatigue. These are symptoms common to many other diseases, meaning the disease can be difficult to detect.
Taking antibiotics for a long period of time can disrupt the unique biology of the gastrointestinal system, known as the microbiome.
This bacterial layer helps protect the gut from damage and respond to infections and disease, and can be damaged by long-term use of antibiotics. This could allow cancer to take hold in the gut more easily, the researchers theorize.
Studies have shown that people under 50 who took antibiotics were 1.5 times more likely to develop colon cancer, while people over 50 in the same scenario were only 1.1 times more likely to develop the disease.
In addition to antibiotics, the report highlights the effect of not getting vaccinated against human papillomavirus, a highly contagious STD linked to cancers of the head, neck, throat, cervix and mouth.
There are a number of vaccines available for teens to prevent HPV, and they have been shown to be nearly 100 percent effective in preventing girls from developing cervical cancer later in life.
But in the United States, only 38 percent of children had received one or more doses of this vaccine, compared with 76 percent of children in the United Kingdom and 84 percent in Australia.
Finally, the AACR report highlighted the risk of exposure to chemicals in the environment, but did not specify which ones.
For example, previous research by the National Cancer Institute He has linked drinking water containing nitrates, a chemical produced when fertilizer is exposed to air, to colorectal cancer.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Margaret Foti, AACR’s executive director, said her report shows that in most other groups, cancer prevention has worked. This year alone, U.S. regulators approved 15 different new cancer treatments.
He said he wants these findings to help spur greater national investment in research.
Dr. Foti said: We hope the 14th annual event will help increase awareness about cancer and raise awareness of the urgency of federal support for scientific and medical research.