Cancer Is Striking More Young People, and Doctors Are Alarmed and Baffled

[question everything]

(snip)

Cancer is hitting more young people in the U.S. and around the globe, baffling doctors. Diagnosis rates in the U.S. rose in 2019 to 107.8 cases per 100,000 people under 50, up 12.8% from 95.6 in 2000, federal data show. A study in BMJ Oncology last year reported a sharp global rise in cancers in people under 50, with the highest rates in North America, Australia and Western Europe. Doctors are racing to figure out what is making them sick, and how to identify young people who are at high risk. They suspect that changes in the way we live—less physical activity, more ultra-processed foods, new toxins—have raised the risk for younger generations.

(snip)

The U.S. cancer death rate has dropped by one-third since 1991, thanks to a plunge in smoking and better treatment. Screening to catch cancers earlier, including breast cancer, has helped, too. Although cancer still strikes older people far more often than the young, the rise in early-onset cancers threatens to stall progress. One in five new colorectal cancer patients in 2019 was under 55, a near doubling since 1995. These younger patients are often diagnosed at late stages. Colorectal cancer death rates among patients over 65 are going down, but for those under 50 they are going up.

(snip)

Not all cancers are on the rise among young people. Breast cancer, the most common cancer diagnosis in the U.S. for people under 50, is rising some, and gastrointestinal cancers like Keen’s are increasing the fastest, studies suggest. Hoping to capture more cases sooner, medical groups have lowered to 40 the recommended age for breast-cancer screening to begin, and for colorectal cancer, to 45. Some people who get diagnosed at an advanced stage are still too young for such screenings to be recommended.

(snip)

Dr. Y. Nancy You, a colorectal cancer surgeon at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. You and her colleagues have studied bacteria and other microbes in tissue samples from rectal cancer patients. They found differences based on age. You said changes in the makeup of microorganisms in the digestive tract spurred by diet, antibiotic use or other factors might drive inflammation and increase cancer risks. Some doctors suspect that cancer-causing exposures might have started during patients’ childhoods, something that is difficult to trace. Unlike when smoking drove up lung cancer deaths in the 20th century, doctors suspect there isn’t a single carcinogen responsible for the current trends. Some worry young people’s rising cancer risks are a sign of deeper trouble.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/cancer-young-people-doctors-baffled-49c766ed?st=d0e3x1oy2asl0eo&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[intrepidity]

1. ::cough:: microplastics ::cough:: nt

[2naSalit]

2. And...

A steady diet.

[hedda_foil]

3. As you say: :Microplastics:

[SouthernDem4ever]

6. among other things

[Scrivener7]

12. Yes. And glyphosate. Both are in everything now. We are willfully killing ourselves.

[BootinUp]

13. Can I disagree.

Last edited Sat Jan 13, 2024, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

I process and test plastics and I work on regulatory compliance issues. I have been exposed to a ridiculous number of plastics and plastics additives. But not at the chemical giants this is custom compounding (most of the significant types of plastics and additives used over the last 40 years). A lesser amount of PVC plastic because that is usually kept to separate facilities, although I have been handling it a little in recent years.

All the important polymers as far as I know are considered biologically inert. So then we could consider the effect of the particles as mechanical irritants perhaps. But these particles have to cause less irritation than harder materials. Plastics are relatively soft, the edges won't remain all that sharp if the material has gotten into the environment for any length of time. The particles will have low aspect ratios, and so not shaped like fibers. So then lastly we could look at chemicals that can leach out of the plastic, or the chemicals that the plastic breaks down to. This is one of the more studied aspects of plastics, and is pretty well regulated where necessary.

But I am concerned about phthalates and PFAS. Many phthalates that have been used are known to be possibly hazardous to health. Phthalates are mostly used in flexible PVC. Other uses do not come close in term of environmental impact. Regarding PFAS, there isn't a lot of evidence of damage to health from these chemicals (yet). Problem or concern is they stick around a long time. Another one that we should be concerned about but probably to a lesser degree is BPA and BPS.

If someone has a different view or understanding I would be interested.

Edit to add: There was an article not too long ago about microparticles from auto tires and a stabilizer that is used in the rubber. I am not as familiar with rubber compounds. But a stabilizer was found to be decomposing into a substance harmfu to aquatic life. Link https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016365182

[Polly Hennessey]

4. Wish they would race just as fast to figure out a cure.

[Wonder Why]

5. Diet, plastics, chemicals in ground and air, pollution, etc

Those of us born in the old days didn't get anywhere as much of them in our youth or died of other things before dying of cancer.

[SouthernDem4ever]

9. Very true

My parents lasted until 90 and 103. I will be lucky to make it to 70. The cumulative chemical effect has it's consequences. Since there are so many, it's difficult to pinpoint which one(s) are causing the problems.

[czarjak]

7. How young? I know a 12 y/o with cancer unfortunately.

[Lonestarblue]

8. The US food supply is filled with carcinogens. We all know that many food crops are grown with heavy doses of Round-Up.

Who knows what else is in our foods. Plus environmental pollution plays a role, along with eating too much processed foods nd getting too little exercise. I recently started paying more attention to the few processed foods I buy. Half the ingredients have unpronounceable names and usually a lot of salt. It’s ridiculous when one small serving of a vegetable based food, like lentil soup, has half the daily salt recommendation.

[LisaM]

10. Inactivity has to be up there.

Remote school means no gym, and schools have all cut funding to sports and after school activities. My friend's daughter played softball on high school but her high school didn't have a team. She played on an expensive 'travel team'. My partner's 19 year old niece, who is morbidly obese, does nothing. Nothing. She won't go for a five minute walk, she won't do yard work, just sits on her phone all day. She doesn't ride a bike or swim or so any of the things I enjoyed doing at 19. And she doesn't want to.

[appalachiablue]

11. "Baffled Drs"?? Maybe they're illiterate. Studies have been

coming out on this topic for several years at least. The Baffled MDs should read DU.

I know a young person, not yet 30, who has had 2 kinds of cancer. He maintains a healthy lifestyle and has no family history of cancer. Illnesses like this in people so young were very rare until the last 20-30 years. It's related to dangerous man-made toxins everywhere in the environment.