Cancer is increasing more quickly among young adults than older adults in Great Britain, and experts believe an obesity epidemic is a major factor.
The proportion of cancer cases in adults aged 25 to 50 has surged by 25% over the past two decades, the steepest rise of any age group. This trend has raised concerns among scientists about the potential emergence of a global cancer epidemic among the young.
“Over recent decades, there has been a clear increase in cancer incidence rates in young adults in the U.K.,” said professor Charles Swanton, chief clinician of Cancer Research U.K., according to The Telegraph.
“We are seeing them through our clinics and it is disturbing and we don’t have a good answer as to why this is happening. It really is a scientific conundrum that urgently needs to be solved. It’s a real puzzle, we’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
Experts attribute the rise in early-onset cancer to the country’s unhealthy relationship with food, noting that obesity rates have doubled during the same period. The number of new cancer cases in Britons aged 25 to 50 now stands at 35,000 per year, with the incidence rate climbing from 132.9 per 100,000 people in 1993-95 to 164.6 per 100,000 in 2019.
The second highest increase in cancer rates occurred in individuals under 25, with a 16% rise from 16.6 cases per 100,000 people in 1995 to 19.2 cases per 100,000 in 2019. Overall, cancer rates across all ages in the same time frame grew by 13%, from 539 per 100,000 to 611.5 per 100,000.
Potential factors behind the rise in early-onset cancer include smoking, obesity, and consumption of red meat, but these alone do not fully explain the trend. Mr. Swanton pointed to significant dietary changes over the past 30 to 40 years, suggesting that elements in modern diets may be altering the gut microbiome or affecting the integrity of the gut lining.
Other possible contributors include high fructose corn syrup, dietary factors associated with obesity, microplastics, and pollutants.
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