Rising cancer rates in young adults reveal lifestyle, diet, and environmental risks, plus strategies to prevent disease early.
Aside from dementia’s decimating mental shroud, traversing emotional shock and the agony of ongoing treatments, culminating in the relief of a possible cure, has to be the most exacting medical experience that any poor human has to endure.
Until now, cancer has been predominantly an age-related disease. This is because the very phenomena that are thought to bring about ageing also set the stage for the development of cancer. These include mounting distortion and damage to our DNA, which gives birth to abnormal cells that grow into cancer cells, and the weakening of our immune systems, which are less able to defend against and eliminate these defective cells. This is compounded by the escalation of chronic inflammation, which adds incendiary fuel to the rapidly growing, destructive wildfires wreaking havoc in our bodies. Add to this raging inferno the dysbiosis or the imbalance of germs in our gut, which further diminishes our immune systems, and we have the perfect storm for the genesis and evolution of potentially lethal, indefensible cancers.
What is even more shocking is the evidence that now indicates that the whole landscape of cancer is undergoing a seismic transformation. Colon cancer used to be an older person’s disease, similarly for pancreatic and stomach cancer. However, over the past 20 years, the medical fraternity has borne witness to an alarming upsurge in the incidence of these diseases in the young.
This is an unexpected phenomenon, given the fact that young people smoke less (although vaping, only recently widely embraced by the young, is on the rise), they exercise more than their forebears, are seemingly more aware of heathy eating habits and idealise their bodies. In the USA today, four out of 10 adults will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lifetime and, for one of these unfortunate souls, this will occur before they reach the milestone of their 50th birthday.
This is partly due to the fact that screening is now happening more frequently with more refi ned and sophisticated technology. But so disturbing is this leap in cancer incidence among the young that the American Cancer Society now recommends the practice of commencing colonoscopies at the age of 45.
This early uptick in cancer statistics has got doctors and scientists spooked for a host of reasons. There is an unexpected escalation in lung cancers in young, non-smoking women, for example, who are often ostensibly healthy: vegetarians, long-distance runners and keen swimmers. Marathon running actually boosts the immune system and protects against cancer, as well as viruses and bacteria. Vegetarianism and a plant-based diet are also supposed to prevent cancer.
The keto and carnivore diets widely championed by the young as a vehicle for spawning a healthy body often favours red-meat consumption. Although it’s rich in protein and other nutrients, a