Why are so many young people being diagnosed with cancer?

This year has seen no shortage of headlines. The men’s England football team reached their first major tournament final away from home and we witnessed the largest majority for 25 years at a general election.

However, 2024 will also go down as the year a reigning monarch publicly admitted to undergoing treatment for cancer – alongside his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales.

While the King’s news rocked the nation, easily most surprising about the Princess of Wales’s diagnosis was her age.

At 42, she is more than 30 years’ his junior; and when delivering her address to the nation from the grounds of Kensington Gardens, it put cancer in the spotlight – and hit home that it’s an illness that does not discriminate.

In September, the Princess of Wales revealed she had completed her chemotherapy treatment for cancer in a video released via The Princes and Princess of Wales YouTube channel.

Today around three million people are living with the disease, and that number is set to climb. No less due to the rising number cases among those in Kate’s age range.

Between 1995 and 2019, figures show that cancer cases soared 24% among British adults aged between 25 to 50. Meanwhile, Vitality research shows cancer is more prevalent in younger women, driven largely by breast cancer [1].

So, what is causing cancer to rise among the young? And is there anything we can do – on a personal level - to help prevent it?

‘Cancer is complex’

According to Dr Roshane Mohidin, Associate Medical Director at Vitality, there isn’t one hard and fast reason for the number of rising cases of cancer among young people.

“Cancer is a complex condition, which can be caused by a number of factors from genetics to lifestyle and environmental factors,” he tells Vitality.

“Researchers are evaluating several factors which may be contributing to the rise in cases in under 50s,” he adds.

And it’s not just Britain that that’s being impacted. Mohidin says there’s a global trend. Countries in Western Europe, North America and Oceania have recorded some of the highest incidences of early onset cancer.

“This suggests a link to risk factors associated with lifestyles in these regions, such as obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, drinking alcohol, consuming processed foods and diets low in fruits, but high in salt and red meat,” he says.

“Aside from lifestyle factors, researchers are also looking into other factors, including air pollution, the gut microbiome and genetics” 

Roshane Mohidin, Associate Medical Director, Vitality 

Other researchers note that a “major change” in western diets over the past four decades could be having detrimental effects on our health, due to – as Mohidin notes – the rise in consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).

New research has shown the extent of the problem. More than half (56%) of the UK’s diet is said to be made up of UPFs; with adolescents getting 68% of their energy intake from UPFs and 63% amongst children.

The UPF impact

Some studies also suggest that overconsumption of UPFs is impacting the number of young people getting cancer.

Bowel cancer is one area researchers are closely monitoring, due to the global pattern of rising cases in the young.

The gut microbiome has been central to helping researchers tackle this problem. Those diagnosed with early-onset cancer were found to house more harmful bacteria in their gut, which are linked to highly processed diets.

Associated with chronic inflammation, this harmful bacterium has the potential to cause mutations, and therefore tumours to form.

Positively, a medical breakthrough in treating bowel cancer was announced by NHS England in May of this year, with the first-ever patient receiving a personalised vaccine against their bowel cancer as part of a clinical trial.

The vaccines are created by analysing patients’ tumour to identify mutations specific to their cancer. Medics are then able to create an individual cancer vaccine using this information.

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Beyond lifestyle

The good news is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) claims that somewhere between 30% and 50% of all cancer cases are preventable.

As a nation, we’re also more aware than ever about the importance of preventative screening.

Likely we’ve all come across a poster, advert or maybe a text message reminding us to perform our own at-home medical examinations, accompanied by a list of signs and symptoms to look out for.

“The increase in diagnoses in the younger people could also be due to how younger adults are more aware of their health which leads to earlier identification of potential symptoms,” says Mohidin.

“This means that they can speak to their doctor at an earlier stage and have the right investigations sooner rather than later.”

You can get familiar with the symptoms of some common cancers below:

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Early diagnosis has been found to be critical in survival rates among people with cancer. 50% of people diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales survive for ten years or more.

So, it’s imperative to be familiar with signs of symptoms in order to get an early diagnosis.

Less within our control are our genetics. Specialists believe around 5 to 10 in every 100 cases can be traced back to our family history.

Naturally, different genetic make-ups carry more risks than others of developing cancer. But these can also be exacerbated by environmental factors.

“These include not smoking or drinking alcohol, eating a healthy diet, keeping physically active and ensuring that you stay safe in the sun,” says Mohidin.

A healthier you

Alongside rapid medical advancements, the high percentage of preventable cancers means there are plenty of changes we can make to our lifestyles to help us stand the best chance of staying cancer-free.

It’s for this reason that Vitality health and life members automatically get access to the Vitality Programme when they take out a plan; to help people take control of their health, by encouraging small behaviour changes – like stopping smoking, increasing physical activity and maintaining a healthy diet – that can make a big difference to our lives, alongside access to health screening.

You can find out more about the Vitality Programme and how it could help you here or by visiting the Vitality app.

Sources:

1. Cancer Research UK: Breast Cancer Survival, 2023

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