Cancer rates are rising in young people • Hacker News Board

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#61

Post by chiefalchemist » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:23 PM UTC

throwup238 wrote: post #2

How much of this is explained by the increase in obesity in young adults? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first specific cancer TFA mentions is colorectal. In the last sixty years the obesity rate has tripled with morbid obesity growing nearly ten fold.

Reframe obesity as a relative of gut health - not a stretch - and the increase in digestive system related cancers is no surprise. Bombarding that system with unhealthy foods also compromises the strength and health of the broader system. So it's a 2x whammy.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#62

Post by msandford » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:24 PM UTC

mensetmanusman wrote: post #6

Might make sense to net zero tax sugar (and hand consumers the taxes at the end of the year). Obesity is the main correlate according to most of these studies.

I think sugar consumption is a symptom of a deeper problem like food not actually being nutritious anymore and glyphosate on everything chelates what nutrition you do actually get.

It's really hard to have self control and just not eat despite being hungry when even the "good" options aren't satisfying unless you know to buy organic.

I'm not saying self control isn't a problem too. But saying that's the only problem is to kind of gloss over how primal the instinct to "not starve" is. The modern food environment makes it possible to feel like you're starving while you're obese because while you have plenty of calories you don't have enough protein or minerals or anything important.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#63

Post by kccoder » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:26 PM UTC

halfjoking wrote: post #43

[flagged]

Not obviously. For example, from ninininino's comment in this post:

For anyone actually wanting real probabilities, a quick google on colorectal which the article mentions as the most common cancer for young men:

"For example, 1 out of every 333,000 15-to-19-year-olds developed colorectal cancer in 1999. Colorectal cancer became more common by 2020, when 1 out of every 77,000 teens"

--

Pretty difficult to blame a vaccine that wasn't in use yet for a 4.32x increase in colorectal cancer rates in teens.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#64

Post by tayo42 » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:26 PM UTC

dataflow wrote: post #8

throwup238 wrote: post #2

How much of this is explained by the increase in obesity in young adults? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first specific cancer TFA mentions is colorectal. In the last sixty years the obesity rate has tripled with morbid obesity growing nearly ten fold.

By explained do you mean cause and effect? What is the link between the two? More cells = more that can become cancerous?

Obese people probably eat terribly too. Candy, fast food, snacks, soda etc. No one is getting obese eating broccoli and chicken breasts

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#65

Post by coffeefirst » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:26 PM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #7

This is a bit of a surprise given how the prevalence of smoking and drinking in the younger generations is steadily declining. We also have a lot more effort put into reducing emissions from all industries. The idea that kids of the 70's chain smoking in the smog have lower cancer risk than the teetotaling youth of today is just sad. The article touched on it a bit, but apparently obesity is a huge contributing facto…

Or its the chemistry.

Every few years some new plastic/common nonstick pan coating/other common substance that you've definitely ingested repeated gets pulled from the market because it causes cancer, and it turns out that the giant chemical company producing it knew for 25 years and covered it up.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#66

Post by dev_throw » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

Dig1t wrote: post #52

dev_throw wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stage 4 as well, diagnosed in 2021. Lifelong vegetarian, mostly ate organic foods and generally active. I always suspected something was wrong with my gut, but didn't think it would be cancer. No genetic component either.

What made you suspect it? What symptoms did you have?

Irregular bowel movements, cramps that I couldn't attribute to what I ate, inexplicable fatigue. Eventually it was a bright red blood in stool which made me force my doctor to take it seriously.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#67

Post by ein0p » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

hypeatei wrote: post #25

Wonnk13 wrote: post #22

36 y/o male with stage 4 colon cancer. Diagnosed in 2016. Lifelong triathlete / healthy eater. I think it's easy to write this off and just better screening, but I think that's certainly a necessary, but not sufficient explanation. I'm open to other ideas, but I have to imagine some of this is due to changes in our environment and food supply. plastics everywhere, pesticides in our food, pollution in the air.

Yeah, my personal theory is that plastics and PFAS are going to be the "things we did wrong for too long" for millenials / Gen Z.

Then GenX would be full of cancer of all sorts. Pesticides, plastics, pollution - you name it, it was way worse back then.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#68

Post by paulnpace » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:29 PM UTC

marinmania wrote: post #13

I would wager this is more a function of better/earlier detection than anything. In general deaths from cancer are down considerably. I'm having trouble finding exact stats I want, but believe this is the case for young people as well. Cases of cancer that result in fatality have been and will always be counted pretty close to 100%, since they will eventually seek medical help. Cases of cancer that are less serious a…

> The survival rate of cancer is over 50%.

I suppose some people believe it is relieving to merely be walking around maimed, reduced organ functionality, high levels of fatigue, various chronic conditions, and a stressor in the back of one's mind with that never-goes-away nag of "will I be here in 5 years?"

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#69

Post by paulnpace » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:32 PM UTC

I find it unlikely to be resolved any time soon and the trend will just get worse. The primary factors in this revolve around difficulty in pursuing dispassionate analysis of all environmental changes impacting people (i.e., topics and even words cannot be discussed or uttered without being canceled from many forums merely for words, not even for "bias"), special interests heavily influencing pretty much everything that has any influence on opinion, oligarchical control over the entire food chain, and regulatory capture at all levels.

Re: Cancer rates are rising in young people

#70

Post by carbine » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 5:38 PM UTC

I went thru very aggressive cancer treatment a few years ago (am a woman in my late thirties) for a type that was def not lifestyle caused nor hereditary. So far so good. I have received great care but no one has given me so much as a hypothesis as to what caused it. The type I had is rising amongst women under 50.

If I had to hypothesize, stress and trauma are large contributors. I don't think by any means that previous generations (women in particular) had it 'easier,' but I think the nature and persistence of low-grade psychological stress we carry now is unique. And our support systems are worse.