This may be of some interest. Talk about the "cancer...

This may be of some interest. Talk about the "cancer generation". Increase in cancer diagnosis with one in 4 cases being found by accident.

Makes the success if IMU's efforts that much more imperative.

Kate: The frightened face of a cancer generation (thenewdaily.com.au)

Princess Kate: The frightened face of a cancergeneration

Catherine, Princess of Wales, and the King are especially close. Theyget along. Some of what they have in common is dire.

When the King shared his diagnosis of an enlarged prostate, there wasconfidence he would be repaired. And life would go on.

It was during the procedure that the surgeons, via a camera, discoveredcancer.

The discovery is what is known as an ‘incidental diagnosis’. This iswhere doctors follow a line of inquiry that leads them to something completelyunexpected.

As we previously reported, research suggests that one in 25 cancer diagnoses are incidental.

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that Kate was undergoing abdominalsurgery, and would require some months of privacy to recover.

Then, last week, in a video that more or less chastened an hystericallyprying world, the princess revealed that she, too, at the age of 42, hadreceived an incidental diagnosis of cancer.

Poster woman for a mystery trend

There’s no obvious upside when a mother of three small children isdealing with cancer.

However, what’s happened to Kate – developing cancer at a relativelyyoung age – has become something of a crisis over the past 30 years.

It’s an issue that needs a higher profile.

Hence, just as the King was hailed for performing a community service byopenly discussing his prostate troubles, Catherine’s diagnosis serves as amuch-needed wake-up call for people under 50 that they too are at risk.

For one thing, early-onset cancers tend to be much more aggressive thancancers linked with ageing.

The undertold story

As we reported in 2022, from about 1990 the number of people with early onset cancer has “increased dramatically” around the world.

Early-onset cancers are those diagnosed before the age of 50 – and thisupward trend, identified by US researchers in a disturbing study, shows no sign of slowing.

Instead, the risk of early-onset cancer is predicted to increase witheach generation.

On the rise are cancers of the breast, colon, oesophagus, kidney, liver,head and neck, prostate, bone marrow and pancreas, among others.

Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston identified thelift in diagnosis numbers that began about 30 years ago – but the factors thatled to cancer probably started years before in childhood.

Improvements in screening don’texplain the trend

What’s concerning is that the increase in early-onset cancers doesn’tseem to be slowing down. And improvements in screening alone don’t fullyexplain the trend.

“We found that this risk is increasing with each generation,” says oneof the researchers, Shuji Ogino, a pathologist and epidemiologist at Brighamand Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“For instance, people born in 1960 experienced higher cancer risk beforethey turn 50 than people born in 1950.”

The researchers predict that “this risk level will continue to climb insuccessive generations”.

Why is this happening?

The researchers note that cancer risk factors have all significantlyincreased since the 1950s.

These include highly processed foods, sugary beverages, obesity, type 2diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol consumption.

They speculate that this has been accompanied by an altered microbiome.

“Among the 14 cancer types on the rise that we studied, eight wererelated to the digestive system. The food we eat feeds the micro-organisms inour gut,” researcher Dr Tomotaka Ugai said.

“Diet directly affects microbiome composition and eventually thesechanges can influence disease risk and outcomes.”

In other words, aswe’ve previously reported – see here and here – the poor-quality food we eat for the sake of convenience, the hours we spend on the couch, and the booze we drink to offset our anxieties are sending us to our graves.