Risk factors include — highly processed foods, sugary beverages, weight, type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption
Changing food habits and lifestyles contribute to the early onset of cancer. Photo : iStock.
The incidence of cancers diagnosed before the age of 50 has increased globally since the 1990s, according to a new study.
Changing food habits and lifestyles contribute to the early onset of cancer, noted the study published in journal Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology September 6, 2022.
Every subsequent generation have a higher chance of developing cancer in their later life. This could be due to the risk factors they were exposed to at a young age.
The researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the United States, analysed global data from 2000 to 2012. And they identified 14 different cancer types that showed an increasing prevalence among adults before the age of 50.
These include cancers affecting — colorectum, breast, endometrium, oesophagus, extrahepatic bile duct, gallbladder, head and neck, kidney, liver, bone marrow, pancreas, prostate, stomach and thyroid. Eight of the identified cancers were related to the digestive system.
The researchers thoroughly analysed the available literature, detailing potential early life exposures that led to this trend. The team compared the characteristics of early-onset cancers with those diagnosed after the age of 50.
Risk factors such as — highly processed foods, sugary beverages, weight, type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption — have significantly increased since the 1950s. These factors may have contributed to the alteration of microbiome composition, leading to the rising cancer incidence, the researchers suspected.
“The food we eat feeds the microorganisms in our gut. Diet directly affects microbiome composition; eventually, these changes can influence disease risk and outcomes,” said Tomotaka Ugai, one of the study’s lead authors.
Children now sleep substantially less than they did decades before, while adult sleep duration hasn’t drastically changed over several decades, the researchers pointed out.
“From our data, we observed something called the ‘birth cohort effect’. This effect shows that each successive group of people born at a later time have a higher risk of developing cancer later in life,” said Shuji Ogino, one of the co-authors of the study.
For instance, people born in 1960 experienced higher cancer risk before they turned 50 than those born in 1950. We predict this risk level will continue to climb in successive generations, he added.
The researchers did not have adequate data from low and middle-income countries, which limits the study’s scope.
Research on early-life exposures and their implications for multiple cancer types will require prospective cohort studies with dedicated biobanking and data collection technologies, the researchers added.
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