Is it just because we dont die of other things first?
In: Biology
In the past decade, there has been almost 30% increase in the population. As with any other disorder, as the number of people increase, so do the victims. Lifestyle before consisted of sparse use of carcinogenic substances. Sure tobacco was abused before too but im talking more about skin creams, fast food etc. Genetically since medical technology is advancing, more people who actually get cancer are saved. Sometimes these “genetic cancers” are due to something called oncogenes. Meaning if the host survives, their child is also very much prone to cancer. So as counterintuitive as it may seem, this is a way in which advancement in medicine leads to increase in cancer rates. Now factor in that early cancer detection mechanisms are higher now and the awareness of cancer itself is more. Then factor in global warming and its subsequent effects. Cancer is not a single condition as such. Its a spectrum defined by uncontrolled cell division basically. There is a corelation (not implying direct causation) between artificial environments and rise in cancer (please see studies) and well, most of our buildings, workspaces and rooms have local environment control techniques. All these factor in together
The other commentators have a lot of good info. But Also lot of it comes down to basic health. Obesity is now an epidemic. Overly processed foods and overly sugary foods.
Many cancers actually feed off of sugar so our food these days is a perfect cancer food.
There are plenty of people that use diet changes to help (not cure/ and used alongside another treeatments) but diet changes can actually help cancer treatments by starving the cancer through eliminating sugar from the diet.
Not a scientific answer, but you’re getting older. So you just hear of people getting cancer more.
Cancer is uncontrolled growth of cells that go wild in the body. It could be inherited or from exposure. The way you live your life – the foods you eat, the amount you move your body, the air you breathe, and the sleep you get – all play a role in how your cells grow, divide, or breakdown.
Obesity definitely plays a role. Anything that causes significant stress on the body can cause the body’s immune system to malfunction. This malfunction can bring on auto-immune disease which by itself can cause cancer. Stress can also affect your sleep and lack of sleep has been shown to cause several cancers (see NIH for details). Pollution and environmental stressors like so many of you have already said also play a role in cancer diagnosis.
We also have screening tools that can catch cancers much earlier than before so that also plays a role on why younger people are being diagnosed more frequently.
Not really a proper answer, but radiation, contaminants, so many things are getting in and affecting our bodies that shouldn’t be.
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For what it’s worth as a DNA scientist I speculate a lot of it has to do with women having children later in life. All cells in our bodies accumulate damage as we age. Cancers are just specific combinations of damage (mutations) that disrupt the cell cycle, and the result is uncontrolled growth AKA cancer. Purely biologically speaking the best time for most women to give birth to the healthiest baby is shortly after puberty.
Just to add, there are also many incidental findings of cancer. I had a kidney stone at 40 and when they did an MRI they found a renal cell carcinoma in the opposite side kidney. Just a fluke, but you know what Kevin says….
Research suggests that millennials are twice as likely to develop some cancers as baby boomers were at the same age, and obesity is the likely culprit. Research has found that the incidence of several cancers is on the rise among younger adults in the United States.
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