To think cancer is rising exponentially in under 55s?

[Peverellshire]

Anecdotes not data, but:

1. Kidney cancer that’s spread - friend - fit, well, 52, diagnosed after routine check for something else. Spread to other organs, no symptoms
2. Triathlete colleague, 52 years. Stomach/ bowel cancer, spread. Diagnosed after, a sudden, violent, stomach upset. Stage 4.
3. Colleague / stage 4 bowel cancer, aged 47, no real symptoms.

Numerous other acquaintances in 50-55 bracket.

Should we have ‘preventative’ MRIs?
To be expected in 50s as old/older?
Does it reflect your experience?

The protein thing is massively overstated just now, people who never go near a gym being urged to be high protein and low carb, ridiculous daily amounts of protein being suggested, loads of highly processed products being branded as high protein so therefore healthy. Low fat used to be the buzzword.

I started going to the gym regularly again at the end of 2022 after one opened locally, I haven't changed my diet at all and I certainly don't take any supplements, I do about 3.5 hours a week of weights/cardio plus an hour or two of yoga and I'm a 47 year old woman. I've built muscle really easily and I only eat meat about once a week, not more than 100g of protein a day when I bother to count it. Some of the calculators say I should be eating nearly twice that, and some so-called diet experts suggest processed powders and supplements - haha, fuck off.

Most people with average Western diet eat way too much protein.

Not in my age group which is similar.

Health issues do get worse as you get older though and general health checks I’d recommend being done annually even privately.

I know of someone in his late 40s who died of oesophagus cancer. Not sure of circumstances but as far as I know he was very healthy.

I know someone who got breast cancer in her late 30s. Apparently was very quick to spread but can’t recall how it was diagnosed. Her DM didn’t have breast cancer but unsure if her grandmothers did.

Someone a few years earlier who had breast cancer and sadly died from it, her DD who turned 50 last year has regular screenings, and is going to ensure her DD who’s in her late teens has regular screenings too as this was hereditary. Other friends where parents have had eg pancreatic cancer or heart attack they’ve ensured they get screening for this and other issues. Latter are American/Swiss.

My gastroenterologist says this is one of her biggest concerns right now. There is little evidence on the long term safety of low fibre and high meat/fat diets. I also follow a uk gastro on IG who is saying the same. He advocates a plant based diet with no to little meat.

So according to different posts on this thread we shouldn’t eat fats, carbs or meat. Doesn’t leave much does it.

It’s so hard with diet now as so many things have bad ingredients in them, especially when you have fussy children or small relatives! My nephew loves red meat, processed meat, is dairy free so has a lot of processed alternatives..my sister doesn’t have time to bake bread etc from scratch as she’s busy with work… it’s hard to know what to feed him when he stays with me. I try to stick to fruit and veg, hummus, etc but the majority of foods are processed or ultra processed now. And then there’s all the chemicals in toiletries, cleaning products etc, people burning fragranced wax melts everywhere and that kind of thing…

I think a lot of this is about fear, people think if they can blame the cancer on the bad choices of the sufferer then it somehow makes them immune!

but of all the young people I’ve known with cancer they have all, been slim, healthy etc. I think lifestyle factors bite at a later stage.

I hope you are well now.

Dust, eat dust

BCC & DCIS: aren't both of these about 67% chance they won't be malignant?
They are always treated as though they are likely to become maligant.
That means more diagnoses, but still minority chance they are harmful.

YANBU. Here's the data:

www.newscientist.com/article/2366565-cancer-mystery-as-cases-rise-among-younger-people-around-the-world/#:~:text=For%20three%20decades%2C%20there%20has,major%20organs%20of%20the%20body.

Not sure if anyone has linked to this study yet?
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/242892/ultra-processed-foods-linked-increased-risk-cancer/

he first UK study of its kind used UK Biobank records to collect information on the diets of 200,000 middle-aged adult participants. Researchers monitored participants’ health over a 10-year period, looking at the risk of developing any cancer overall as well as the specific risk of developing 34 types of cancer. They also looked at the risk of people dying from cancer.
The study found that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a greater risk of developing cancer overall, and specifically with ovarian and brain cancers. It was also associated with an increased risk of dying from cancer, most notably with ovarian and breast cancers.
For every 10 per cent increase in ultra-processed food in a person’s diet, there was an increased incidence of 2 per cent for cancer overall, and a 19 per cent increase for ovarian cancer specifically.
Each 10 per cent increase in ultra-processed food consumption was also associated with increased mortality for cancer overall by 6 per cent, alongside a 16 per cent increase for breast cancer and a 30 per cent increase for ovarian cancer.
These links remained after adjusting for a range of socio-economic, behavioural and dietary factors, such as smoking status, physical activity and body mass index (BMI).

Interesting. I'm 34. One boy in my school year died when he was 27 from cancer. My friend's sister had ovarian cancer, early 30s, got rid and it came back a few years later. Uncle is in his 40s, kidney cancer: They left him nearly a year, dealt with it now they've found something else and he's waiting for a scan to see if it's the cancer that's spread. Mil lost two friends to cancer in their 50s.

Too many micro plastics in dust 😂

At least it means you won’t be using cleaning products though

Even so people are still living a lot longer than they used to. Today almost everyone appears to have had it, got it, or know/knew at least 3 people who’ve had it. I had 2 different cancers before I was 50, I’ve had one for over a decade & passed the over 55 mark.

Sniper's alley?! That's a new fear unlocked 😅

On reading it they do state: "Around 9 in 10 cancerous tumours occur in people over 50, so the increasing incidence in people younger than this isn’t making a big impact on the total number of cases. “It’s important to remember that the vast majority of cancer cases are diagnosed in people over 50,” says Alice Davies at Cancer Research UK (CRUK)." and "For most types of tumour, their increase in people under 50 has been relatively modest so far. For instance, the incidence of all cancers combined among 25 to 49-year-olds in the UK rose by 22 per cent between 1993 and 2018, from 133 cases per 100,000 people to 162 per 100,000.

Context needed and not to panic. Perhaps lifestyle changes, sedentary more now sitting around on phones and gaming for lots and fast food etc. My father's generation worked long hours many in quite physical work and had a day off to relax and ate a more typical meat and veg type diet. That type of job and diet/lifestyle seems quite alien to lots of people now.

Randomly feeling the need to reply to this since four female friends .. one 49 and the rest younger, all diagnosed with cervical/breast cancer in the last six months… do we think Covid vaccinations have a part to play?!

I agree. I think in all colleagues, all the people we know, the rise of cancer in 50 years olds is huge.

I’m not sure it’s rising, I lost 3 out of 4 grandparents to cancer is their 40s but it often wasn’t detected in time back then. For example, my grandmother died of endometrial cancer, she actually died on the operating room table as it was so far advanced. I had routine smears, and the knowledge and information regarding abnormal bleeding, follow up tests available on the nhs and although no cancer found, a hysterectomy based on my symptoms and family history at a few years older than she was. I often wonder, obviously I never knew her as she died relatively young, did she go to the doctor? (NHS would have been relatively new) Was she dismissed with ‘women’s problems’? Did women just expect abnormal bleeding as going through ‘the change’ due to lack of information.

I think it’s detected more now. and rise of social media and news means we hear about it more. People live longer. Conditions which would have caused early death are now treatable to an extent - does this have an impact longer term?

What has changed though is our diets and lack of exercise - that is preventable though. But I’m sure has an impact in certain cancers.

Nope

@Creatureofhabit87 HRT? Partic as Drs say ok to increase Utrogestan etc if 100mg a night not doing trick. No expert.

Nope

Cancer rates in the under 50s have been steadily increasing for decades now all across the world. There are no patterns that would suggest a link to Covid vaccinations, merely a continuation of the pre-existing trend.

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/05/cancer-cases-in-under-50s-worldwide-up-nearly-80-in-three-decades-study-finds - caveat, that link talks very unhelpfully about absolute numbers, rather than rates per head of population, but the rates show a similar pattern.

I agree. Was also diagnosed in my 30s. I am slim, very active and eat healthily. I think people say this to make themselves feel better. They won’t get cancer because they’re not overweight/ don’t eat crap. It’s largely bullshit. Having spent lots of time on busy oncology wards/waiting rooms. Very few overweight people. And definitely not disproportionately so.

Cancer is something like 10% genetics, 30 % lifestyle and the remaining 60 % is our environment.
I firmly believe that all the toxins and chemicals in our environment are having an impact. I dont think Ultra processed foods are helping. I say I eat healthily but it’s unfortunate I was brought up in the 80s when convenience foods were hitting the shelves.

I would like to see more research on chemicals in the environment (and less victim blaming).

It’s really not fucking helpful, is it? There can’t be anybody over 35 who isn’t getting enough sleep because they aren’t trying hard enough, or because they don’t appreciate that it’s important. So going on about how important it is just bloody adds to the problem.

My DS13 was diagnosed with cancer in August. He is 1 of 4 children in his school who have it. 2 with brain tumours, not sure the other one, but my son has a skull base rhabdomyosarcoma.

I don't remember a single child at my school having cancer.

My son has a healthy diet, active lifestyle and loves sports. His consultant is probably just trying to be nice but she says there is nothing we have done to have caused this.