Cancer Cases Are Increasing in People Under 50, Study Finds
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A new study shows an increase in cancer in people under 50 years old.
Stomach, multiple myeloma, and pancreatic cancers are among those on the rise.
A person’s diet, lifestyle, weight, environmental exposures, and gut microbiome, have changed significantly in the last few decades and could play a part in the rise of cases—but there’s more to it.
Many consider cancer a disease for older people. But that’s not really the case, especially now. A growing number of studies have found that cancer rates are increasing in younger people. And now, a new study shows that people under 50 are getting cancer at a higher rate annually.
The study, which was published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, analyzed data from 14 different cancer types that showed an increasing number of cases in adults before the age of 50 from 2000 to 2012. While specific percentage increases were not called out in the study, accompanying charts showed an undeniable annual rise. “We were interested in analyzing cancer incidence trends in young people across organ systems as well as investigating data on potential risk factors,” says study co-author Shuji Ogino, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The researchers then analyzed possible risk factors to try to figure out what could be leading to the rise in cancer cases in younger adults. Overall, they found that “early life exposome,” which is a person’s diet, lifestyle, weight, environmental exposures, and gut microbiome, has changed significantly in the last few decades and could play a role in the increasing number of cases—but there’s a lot more to it than that. Here’s why cancer cases are increasing in younger adults, and what you can do to lower your risk.
Which cancers are increasing in people under 50?
The study specifically found that the following types of cancer are increasing in people under 50:
breast
colorectum
endometrium
esophagus
extrahepatic bile duct
gallbladder
head and neck
kidney
liver
bone marrow
pancreas
prostate
stomach
thyroid
“This is something that has been observed in the clinic over several years by primary care and cancer doctors—younger patients are being diagnosed,” says Jack Jacoub, M.D., board-certified medical oncologist and medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif. “Physicians have been taught that cancer increases with age and that’s true, but younger people are now being diagnosed with cancers that we used to historically see in older people.”
It’s also worth noting that the study’s findings back up other recent research that found that five types of cancer are increasing in younger adults: colorectal, breast, kidney, pancreas, and uterine cancers.
Why are cancer rates increasing in people under 50?
The researchers from the original study found something called the birth cohort effect, which shows that each group of people born at a later time (in this study, a decade later) have a higher risk of developing cancer later in life which may be linked to risk factors they were exposed to at a younger age. The researchers discovered that the risk increased with each decade—people who were born in 1960 had a higher risk of developing cancer before age 50 than those born in 1950, for example.
OK, but…why? The researchers admit that this can be a tricky thing to parse out, but they have some theories.
One is that the westernized diet and lifestyle could be increasing rates. That links up with recent research that suggests that eating ultra-processed foods can increase the risk of cancer—meaning frozen meals, soda, cold cuts, and sweets could be putting you at a higher risk.
Obesity, type 2 diabetes, a more sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol consumption have increased since the 1950s, which the researchers say could impact the gut microbiome and raise a person’s risk of cancer earlier in life.
Lack of sleep could also play a role. The researchers note that, while adults are generally getting the same amount of sleep that they’ve gotten over the past few decades, children are getting much less sleep than they did decades ago.
Dr. Ogino says that early detection and increased cancer screenings may also play a role in the rise of cancer cases in people under 50. “Enhanced screening with early detection is certainly one reason, especially for some cancer types such as prostate and thyroid cancers,” he says. “But for many other cancer types, it is not the sole reason.”
“Young people need to recognize that this is a serious, life-threatening disease that we probably need to be concerned about in our teens and 20s to try to prevent it,” Dr. Jacoub says.
How to lower your risk of cancer
The American Cancer Society (ACS) says that at least 18% of cancers in the U.S. are related to excess body weight, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, and poor nutrition. With that in mind, the ACS recommends doing the following to lower your cancer risk:
Try to keep your body weight in a healthy range.
Get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity each week. (Children should get at least one hour of moderate or vigorous intensity activity each day.)
Try to limit sedentary behavior.
Eat a healthy diet, including eating a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Limit red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, highly processed foods, and refined grain products.
Limit alcohol to no more than one drink a day for women and no more than two drinks a day for men.
“Start those good habits earlier,” Dr. Ogino says. “The earlier the better.”
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