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

Some cancers can be caused by certain lifestyle choices. Like smoking. But I dont think science has worked out yet the exact reasons why some people get it and others don't. Also polution is a factor. . Also their are genetic factors too. In cancers such as breast cancer.

I remember sitting in a presentation at work years ago from some health improvement sorts who were talking about risk factors for certain cancers. Sitting next to me was my friend and colleague who’d recently had a breast cancer diagnosis and had just started chemo. The presentation was well intentioned to raise awareness but my friend felt as though her cancer was somehow her fault, which was bollocks but also really kicked her while she was feeling down and quite ill. She left the presentation upset and a few of us pointed out that some of their messages had all the subtlety of a brick. It was all quite awkward and I felt really angry she’d been upset by it.

My lovely friend died in 2019 after the bastard thing metastasised into her bones, but she often talked about what she’d done differently from others and could her life have followed a different path when of course it’s horrendous luck most of the time.

And childhood cancer is of course infinitely more cruel.

Your colleague is deluded. Lifestyle contributes to some cancers but fundamentally we do not understand this cruel disease. Of my two friends who died of lung cancer, one had experimented briefly with tobacco at university the way many of us did - probably smoked less that 20 packs in his life. The other smoked for about 10 years and was diagnosed about 35 years after quitting.

Both otherwise fit and temperate in lifestyle. Maybe your friend can explain away the element of bad luck, especially in the first case?

Really?? I've known at least 6 people well under 40 who have had cancer, including, sadly , children.

Depends on the type of cancer.
Some are caused by lifestyle … smoking, drinking, high sugar intake etc, coupled with genetic predisposition and some aren’t.

💐

Cancer is such a cruel and indiscriminate illness.

I've always been skeptical about the lifestyle link. For sure smoking increases your chances of throat and lung cancer. But in general, a hell of a lot seem to be random. We all know super fit, super healthy people who've developed it. And we all know fat drinkers and smokers who just keep going.

Cancer really is terrifying. It's like this black cloud that hangs over every family. We can't prevent it, and we can't cure it. It has utterly defeated us. In the 1970s, Nixon declared war on it, and said we'd find a cure within a decade. Yet here we are, 50 years later, and we seem to have got nowhere. My friend's daughter has had to have a leg removed, and now it's spread to her lung. I also know of two other women, both in their 50s, who recently died from the f-ing thing. A few years ago, we were told immunotherapy was a game changer. Try telling that to my friend's daughter.

It's magical thinking your colleague indulges in to make her feel safe.

I could not personally be friends with her and would minimise speaking to her.

Attitudes like hers really piss me off.

In high school three fellow pupils had cancer, one after the other. All survived. Sadly a good friend from school died of cancer in her early 30s. I know quite a few people who have had cancer. Some survived but not all. Some under the age of 40. It’s horrendous.

You obviously don't know a lot of people or read or watch TV. Are you living under a rock?

Dad died from mesothelioma, his 'lifestyle choice' was working for one employer where he was exposed to asbestos. When DH was diagnosed with his cancer in 2020 four other friends had loved ones who were diagnosed at the same time, only one of them is still alive, one of those people diagnosed was a child who hadn't made any lifestyle choices likely to lead to an increased risk of cancer.

I work in advising on life insurance, etc. Statistically 1 in 2 will get cancer in their lifetime.

For women's critical illness claims 60% are cancer. The fifth most claimed critical illness is child critical illness, staggeringly high for cancer.

I'm mid 40's. Had cervical cancer in my 20s and just had a cancerous lump removed from my arm. My friend at 36 had breast cancer, my friend at 35 had leukaemia, I've had friends diagnosed under 30 with tonsil cancer, brain tumours (2 friends), another with breast and ovarian, another with ovarian, another with bowel cancer. 90% of these NOT dietary related or lifestyle related (non smokers/exceptionally fit mostly).

I've got info graphics somewhere but it is very sober reading.

Some are, some aren't. You would BU to think all are caused by one or the other.

If only those extremely clever and motivated scientists knew the answer for the cause of each and every cancer, what a breakthrough that would be.

Some are and some aren’t. Plenty of healthy people get cancer, plenty on “unhealthy” people don’t.

My DFs was very much his choice of lifestyle, he choose to smoke and died of small cell lung cancer. There was also another term used, I can’t remember what it was but he was told by the Drs that it was caused by his smoking.

You cant argue with stupid. Not worth even trying.

Of course lifestyle factors can increase your risk of some cancers.

There will always be outliers - the 106 year old who's chain smoked for decades and the 30 year old fitness fanatic vegan teetotaller who gets a a rare brain tumour.

What's your point?

Many are, many aren't, many might be but you'd never know for sure.

And just because something's "caused by lifestyle" doesn't necessarily mean you're to blame. The sunburn I had as a small child might give me skin cancer when I'm eighty. Thousands of former factory workers die of mesothelioma every year. The only way my generation could have avoided HPV and the risk of associated cancers was to stay virgins.

A work colleagues mum died of lung cancer, never smoked in her life, didn't drink alcohol due to religious reasons and had a healthy diet. So yes it isn't always down to lifestyle.

One thing that really worries me about this idea that only fat, unfit, smokers and drinkers get cancer is that people who are none of the above possibly dismiss worrying early symptoms because they believe it won't happen to them because they live a 'healthy' lifestyle and so seek help late on. And then I worry a lot of health care professionals also think the same way and so also dismiss symptoms because someone is seen as fit and healthy.

She's daft if she spouts that all cancers are caused by lifestyle. I would also suggest it's pretty bad karma to be smug about that kind of stuff

I don’t know OP. She has a point, many cases are associated with various risk factors. And I say that as someone who was diagnosed with cancer at 40. I could blame it on my poor diet, ten years of smoking or my fondness for a glass of wine. Or else I could regard it simply as bad luck. Who knows?

I think it’s very normal to know others of a similar age who are in a similar situation which to many others would be very unusual.

I have dozens of friends whose child has died but I’ve met them as a direct result of my own child dying and we have bonded over being in the same awful situation.

Im afraid i have lost 4 friends to cancer
all of whom were under 40 .you are very lucky to have not experienced such loss.

Your colleague is ignorant. Your thread title is slightly misleading though. Some cancers are caused by lifestyle choices. Just not... most.

My first DH died of a brain tumour in his forties. No 'lifestyle factors' involved.