Younger Cancers On the Rise With Each Generation: Why?

What can you do to protect yourselves and family?

Getting cancers before the age of 50 (as happened to me) is on the rise.

Early onset cancers, including cancers of the breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, liver, and pancreas among others, have dramatically increased around the world. The real-time stamp of this drastic rise was around 1990.

Why?

Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital conducted extensive analyses of available data in the literature and online, including information on early life exposures that might be driving this scary trend.

They observed the “birth cohort” effect.

The birth cohort effect shows that each successive group of persons born at a later time (e.g., decade-later) have a higher risk of developing cancer later in life. Likely due to risk factors they were exposed to at a young age (or, in the womb or pre-birth, as the egg and the sperm and placenta contain lots of “fat” and cancer-causing pollutants are lipophilic, or love fat.

This risk is increasing with each generation.

People born in 1960 experienced higher cancer risk before they turn 50 than people born in 1950 and these scientists predict that this risk level will continue to climb in successive generations.

Possible risk factors for early-onset cancer included: alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, smoking, obesity, and modern highly processed food diets.

While adult sleep duration hasn't drastically changed over several decades, children are getting far less sleep today than they were decades ago.

Risk factors such as highly-processed foods, sugary beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol consumption have all “significantly increased” since the 1950s.

Some speculate that modern life, food, and sleep have accompanied altered microbiome health. The gut-immune link is being appreciated more and more. Even if your cancer doctor is not likely to talk to you about it at this time.

Cancer and the Gut

Among the 14 cancer types on the rise, eight were related to the digestive system. The food we eat feeds the microorganisms in our gut.

Diet directly affects microbiome composition. Microbiome health influences disease risk and outcomes.

Moral of this story: there needs to be a call for “Green Pregnancies” where soon-to-be moms are educated in healthy lifestyles as well as healthy home lifestyles. Air is now recognized to be a new food, too. So air and water quality also count.

Back to Basics

Diet. Exercise. Sleep. Back to the healthier basics is no small feat to achieve in today’s fast contemporary lifestyle, but worth the effort.

What we are exposed to, is part of the legacy we share with our family’s future.

Turns out my cancers (and many health woes that I suffered with and had to carve knowledge out of the mountainside to figure out how to stop) were “initiated” by epigenetic changes in the womb. My mother (like millions of other women from 1938 to 1971) were recommended prenatal vitamins that contained DES - diethylstilbestrol, the most powerful endocrine disruptor banned in 1971 as a Class 1 Carcinogen) as well as “DES injections” given when spotting occurred. My mom received both. Her microfilm birth records from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago proved this.

It’s so much less costly, plus, promotes a higher quality of life, to start healthier habits younger. Rather than battle disease later.

Dr. B

Researching, connecting the dots in meaningful ways & sharing with you makes me Happy! I love connecting live over Zoom with many of you in my monthly membership webinars. Not a part of the Live or Pro Level membership? Learn more here: Berkson Health Membership Groups

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Reference:

Is early-onset cancer an emerging global epidemic? Current evidence and future implications. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41571-022-00672-8