This is why cancer rates in people under 50 are rising fast

Cancer in people under fifty has seen a dramatic spike in recent decades according to new research from Harvard University, but the reasons behind it might surprise you. 

In a study from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, researchers tried to discover the varying reasons why cancer among those younger than fifty was on the rise globally.  

The researchers used existing data to explore the causes behind cancer increases and their analysis revealed those born later in time were more at risk of getting the disease. 

“From our data, we observed something called the birth cohort effect,” said Shuji Ogino, a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and one of the study’s co-authors. 

Ogino spoke with the Harvard Gazette about the research and explained that those who were born in later decades had a higher chance of developing cancer because they were likely exposed to more risk factors at a younger age than older generations. 

According to the study’s authors, the role of risk factors and when one’s exposure to them occurred was the determining factor in why cancer was on the rise in younger populations worldwide. 

One example Ognio used was that people who were born in the 1960s had a higher risk of developing cancer before 50 than those born one decade before them in the 1950s. 

Armed with this data, the study’s authors concluded that the risk of getting cancer for people under the age of fifty is likely to continue to rise in "successive generations." 

The Harvard Gazette noted that Ogino worked with the study’s lead author, Tomotaka Ugai, and several other researchers to analyze data on 14 different types of cancer with patient data that spanned between 2000 to 2012, looking for possible cancer risk factors. 

Many of the risk factors the researcher identified will make sense to you since you’ve heard them all before. Alcohol consumption, obesity, and smoking were all important. 

The consumption of highly processed foods was also pointed to as one of the major risk factors for developing cancer before fifty, which Ugai said was important for gut health. 

“Among the 14 cancer types on the rise that we studied, eight were related to the digestive system. The food we eat feeds the microorganisms in our gut,” Ugai noted. 

“Diet directly affects microbiome composition and eventually these changes can influence disease risk and outcomes,” the study’s lead author continued. 

The big foods you’ll want to avoid based on the study’s findings are things like sugar, red meats, and anything highly processed typically found in a “western-style diet.” 

Sleep deprivation was also identified as one of the key possible risk factors based on the study’s research. The study’s authors found that while adults generally still kept a similar sleep schedule to their predecessors, children are far more sleep-deprived today. 

However, the study’s authors noted there was one major problem with their research and said it did not include enough information on low and middle-income countries according to the Harvard Gazette, meaning it is tough to generalize results worldwide.