to think people who think cancer is caused by lifestyle choices are ignorant?

I don’t think anyone is saying that people who get cancer deserve it or are to blame. The best explanation I’ve heard of the link between genetics and environment/lifestyle factors went something like this

• our dna is covered is switches a bit like light switches. If you don’t have the switch for lung cancer then it doesn’t matter how much you smoke. But if you do have the switch, then working in smoky pubs or smoking will flip it, and if enough of them get flipped, you’ll get lung cancer.

i assume there are cancers which don’t have an environmental or lifestyle factor, but where they do, it serves nobody to pretend there’s nothing we can do.

It's a lottery, pure and simple.

Multiple likely factors including genetics and environment.

My cancer list:

DP - undiagnosed and virtually symptomless oesophageal cancer that metastised to his liver, lungs and brain - which caused catastrophic bleeds and took him out in three weeks. Only diagnosed post mortem.

DM - ovarian cancer (and / or peritoneal / omentum as it was only diagnosed at stage 4 because doctors dicked around putting her on the Fodmap diet for two years as they thought it was IBS. Picked up after a blood test when her GP thought HRT might help with her tiredness. She was 72 at this point)

DMs sister - ovarian cancer.

Step-father - liver cancer secondary to stomach cancer. Dismissed as constipation until he got referred shoulder pain.

Paternal GM - third bout of breast cancer finished her off about a week before her 90th birthday.

Paternal Aunt - breast cancer took her in her 60s.

Close family friend - bladder cancer - dismissed as anxiety until it was too late.

Another friend - survived lymphoma and in remission just shy of 30.

Friends partner - died of breast cancer about two months after my DP.

Very close friend diagnosed breast cancer a few months after DP died - fortunately in remission now.

DF has splenic lymphoma which is unlikely to finish him off as it's a slow one - he's going to be 84 in October. Hopefully. He is a nuclear test veteran, for what it's worth.

I have had my ovaries and tubes removed by the NHS despite no obvious genetic fault due to DM and Aunt both having ovarian cancer. I'm still high risk for peritoneal and omentum apparently.

DPs dad survived his oesophageal cancer - it was picked up accidentally during investigations for something else. He's just turned 80.

His sister, in her 70s, lives with an inoperable brain tumour.

This evening a young friend of mine told me about two people close to her both with recurrent cancers.

Cancer is an utterly indiscriminate scourge.

Honestly this attitude breaks my heart. Yes lifestyle factors can contribute to a diagnosis but it's not the only thing to cause cancer. By focusing in on "lifestyle" effectively you are saying that the person with cancer has somehow brought this on themselves. Not really a helpful attitude to bring to someone battling cancer. I was diagnosed with cancer at a young age and yes with hindsight I could of drunk a little less, had a few less takeaways maybe not had so much red meat, exercised continuously etc etc however no one expects to be diagnosed in their 20s with cancer. I lived my life at uni like every other 20 something that I knew, does that mean they are all due their turn on the chemo train? Obviously not! Cancer doesn't give a shit who you are, what you do, how you live your life. It is an awful debilitating disease that even if you survive you never truly get over as it is always there lurking over your shoulder threatening to return at a moments notice. So does that mean if I have 2 glasses of wine this weekend and my cancer comes back it's my fault? I deserve it somehow? No it doesnt, no one deserves it, its fucking unfair and i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. Maybe people who have this opinion should keep it to themselves and worry about their own life rather than trying to kick people when they're at their lowest point just to feel somehow better about their own lifestyle choices. Let's hope these saintly beings have never over indulged ever in their life, have followed every contradictory rule that supposedly protects you from cancer and has a completly clear family history with no rouge cells in their body that may or may not decide to fuck up and start building a tumor just because.

The other thing is, of course, you can do all the 'right' things and still get cancer. It's just too unpredictable and you can say for any individual, just describe the risk in overall terms.

Looking at rarer childhood cancers probably doesn't tell you much about what causes the most common adult cancers. Cancer is a really broad category of disease and there isn't one explanation for it.

Most adult cancers are multi-factorial, which means they have lots of causes, including genetic risk, genetic mutations over time, environment, pollution, lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking and so on, preventive behaviours, screening, all kinds of things make up the risk or affect how people get treated or what are their outcomes.

Just because some people with lung cancer haven't smoked doesn't mean most people with lung cancer haven't smoked- it's predominantly a cancer caused by smoking and other factors (e.g. genetic susceptibility). Only about 10-20% with lung cancer haven't smoked. They might also have been exposed to passive smoking of course. I don't think the smoking/non-smoking should dictate how we should view them or how they should be treated anyway, given smoking is nearly always an addiction.

There are lots of associations between lifestyle factors and cancer risk, I don't want to go on about them here because people then misinterpret this to mean you are blaming them- it's very rarely the case that one lifestyle factor 'causes' one type of cancer, but that lifestyle becomes part of the overall risk picture which would vary from person to person. Alcohol contributes to cancer risk, at all levels (even a small amount of drinking). I'll leave it up to people if they want to google it, Cancer Research UK has some good informatics which explains it.

You've forgotten to tell us what she said when you pointed out that babies/children get cancer?

Or did the conversation not actually happen and you just wanted to discuss the topic?

Your colleague is wrong that cancer is only caused by lifestyle, cancer does not discriminate. They would be correct in thinking lifestyle could potentially contribute to a diagnosis

I agree - of all the people I know who have had cancer, none were overweight, or had poor diets. Two smoked, and one of them died from mouth cancer the other from throat cancer. I know two women who died from lung cancer and neither had ever smoked, were fit and normal weight.

I’ve had 5 family members get cancer under 40, the youngest was just 17. Granted I have got quite a big family.

That's nothing OP. I was once told that cancer is caused by negative feelings and unhappiness, and that if only people could let go of those feelings, their cancer would heal. 😱

Pp's have some very sad experiences. I am one who also knows of no-one under 40 who has had cancer. My best friend died of cancer at 42, my dad at 68, all the rest have been elderly.

Despite all of these dreadful experiences, age, is in fact the biggest risk factor. Cancers in babies and the young are rare on a population level. Less than 1% each.

Yes, it's the same for diabetes.

Too many people think lifestyle is the only cause of ill health because that's what they hear on TV or see in the news.

Sadly environmental is a huge part of the picture is your bodies predisposition to illness.
EG Man made chemicals are in our food, water, on our clothes and furniture and because the body has no way of ridding itself of them.

ALL are, that is

Utter harmful nonsense about lifestyle causing cancer

Thinking that NO cancers are caused by lifestyle is as stupid and thinking NONE are.

OP's colleague was wrong, but so are many people on this thread.
Some are, some are not.

I had cancer investigations and the questions I was asked by the consultant were
Did I have a family history of cancer
Did I smoke
Had I ever worked with asbestos
Had I had contact with chemicals
How much did I drink

A variety of factors . Nothing about diet or weight .

It makes people feel better if they think there is a reason. We are hardwired to believe that everything must have a cause because then we can kid ourselves that it couldn’t happen to us. It’s a defence mechanism. The reality is that if lifestyle choices caused cancer then no toddlers would ever get it. Sometimes it is just random and there is no reason.

I'm sorry to hear that. My statement, as you can see, wasn't an absolute "all lung and bladder cancer is caused by smoking" that would be a daft statement to make.

My 9 year old got cancer. The pediatric oncology ward is packed to the brim with newborn babies - teens with cancer.

Lifestyle factors increase the likelihood and risk for certain cancers, that is true. But I agree with OP - people who spout nonsense about cancer being a lifestyle consequence are morons. I got very upset with DH once when he suggested a man I worked with had died of bowel cancer before he was 60 due to "stress".

For people who have been lucky enough not to know anyone with cancer, trust me, that is very much what you are - lucky. I lost a friend to cancer when I was 16 - watching him waste away was horrifying. A friend lost her 5 year old a few years ago.

One thing I'll add is that even if your lifestyle factors are part of the reason for it, nothing annoys me more than when people jump straight to that. My father had throat cancer. And yes, he smoked heavily for 25 years before giving it up in his 40s. But nothing offended me more than when people heard the first question they'd ask was, "is he a smoker"? I always wanted to say, "yes, he was a smoker so of course, neither him nor I deserve any sympathy." Wankers.

My great grandmother (old) had lung cancer, never smoked a day in her life. But she was a district nurse.
My dad (59) had gastric cancer. Never smoked but drank wine like a fish also had helicobacter pylori.
A friend (old) had cancer of the epiglottis and hadn't smoked for 30 years.
My sister in law (40) had bowel cancer. She smoked and was overweight.
Sometimes lifestyle is a contributing factor but not always and I don't believe cancer is caused just by lifestyle.
I also knew several 90+ folk who smoked until the day they died and no sign of cancer at all.

Just want to mention not all lung cancers are caused by smoking. My FiL died from lung cancer, he never smoked in his life...the amount of people who assumed he 'caught' it from smoking was unbelievable.
OP I agree with you up to a point, I actually think genetics plays a huge part, add in the environmental exposure and then the chances of a cell mutating get higher.

I personally know of at least six under 40s to get cancer; three who died.

I'm pretty sure by far the majority of people know that's not the case.

I do believe an unhealthy lifestyle increases your chances and that a healthy lifestyle won't necessarily protect you.

Has anyone ever said to you that they belief you caused your own cancer by your lifestyle choices?

You cant argue with stupid. Not worth even trying.
This. I would avoid the subject with my colleague. Did she not read about Deborah James, a lifelong vegan and ex-gymnast who died of bowel cancer at 40? So many examples of fit, healthy young people dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

My dad had lung cancer never smoked!