What modern factors contribute to higher risks of cancer?
Uniquely modern factors can increase our cancer risk. Research connects ultraprocessed food, PFAS contaminants in drinking water, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and obesity with increased cancer risk.Cancer rates are going up globally The rates of cancer are sharply increasing globally. In 2022, there were an estimated 20 million cases of cancer in the world. WHO predicts that by 2050, there will be over 35 million new cancer cases, amounting to a whopping 77% increase in cancer rates by 2050. The increase in these rates is driven by more younger people getting cancer.Cancer is hitting younger peopleIn the US, with increased screening and vigilance, the rates of older people dying from cancer are declining. But sadly, the cases of young people getting cancer are skyrocketing. In 1995, 1% of young adults were diagnosed with cancer. Now that percentage has doubled. Some commonly diagnosed cancers in young adults are breast, prostate, endometrial, colorectal, and cervical cancers.Among age-related cancers, colorectal cancer is of special note. The disease predominantly impacts older adults over 50, and the median age at diagnosis was 72 years in the early 2000s. Now it is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men under 50, and the second leading cause of death in women under 50. The median age of diagnosis has reduced to 66 years.Cancer risk increases with age because as an individual gets older, the mutations their cells collected over the years pile up, and the overall chances of having cancer-causing mutations increase.But the increasing cancer incidence in young adults cannot be explained by the same logic. Since the natural rates of mutation between people now and those in the 1990s should be similar, one can hypothesize that something in the modern environment increases the stresses on our DNA causing additional mutations or other changes that result in cancer.Modern factors that cause cancerCancer is a complex disease, and it may not always be possible to know how all the factors around us make us more susceptible to cancer. However, we can pinpoint some environmental pollutants and lifestyle and dietary habits that are directly related to increasing cancer risk.
Frozen meals, flavored yogurts, and ice cream are ultraprocessed food
1. Ultraprocessed foodUltraprocessed food can be defined as food that has been chemically altered. Ultraprocessed foods are dense in calories but not nutrients. Over the decades, our grocery stores have become flooded by ultraprocessed foods. Ultraprocessed foods include many cereals, sweetened drinks, nuggets, mass-produced bread, fruit-flavored yogurts, instant and frozen meals, and salty/sugary snacks such as chips, cookies, ice cream, etc.As of 2019, at least 73% of the US food supply consisted of ultraprocessed foods. An average US adult got at least 63% of their calories from ultra-processed foods.Ultraprocessed foods provide too many calories with too few nutrients. Arguably, the consumption of too many ultraprocessed foods has contributed to the current obesity epidemic in the US and played a role in the earlier onset of additional diseases such as diabetes. Obesity increases the risk of cancer. But ultraprocessed food may contain materials that increase the risk of cancer even in the absence of obesity and diabetes.According to some reports, greater consumption of ultraprocessed foods increases the risk of cancers in the mouth, throat, head, esophagus, and upper digestive tract. An increased BMI only explained 5% of the association between the consumption of ultraprocessed foods and head and neck cancer, and only 13% of the association between ultraprocessed foods and oesophageal adenocarcinoma.So, some unknown substances in the food could be increasing cancer risk. The long-term effects of many additives such as artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives, and emulsifiers are unknown. They may have a direct effect in causing cancer, or they may cause indirect damage such as increased inflammation, and changing the composition of the gut bacteria.
You can check the overprocessed of over 50,000 foods in the grocery store on this website, and get substitution ideas from this website created by scientists based on published research:https://www.truefood.tech
Excessive PFAS in drinking water can increase cancer risk
2. PFAS contamination in the waterA group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) includes chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). These chemicals are used to make nonstick coatings for cookware, food packaging cardboard and other materials, rain jackets, carpets, and firefighting foam. PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they are very stable and stay in the environment for a long time.Ever since PFAS started being produced in the US in the 1940s, poor industrial practices led to the contamination of U.S. water supplies with PFAS. Currently, over half the drinking water in the US is contaminated with PFAS.3M, a leading PFAS manufacturer recently entered a multibillion-dollar settlement after hundreds of communities across the country sued the company and other PFAS manufacturers due to PFAS contamination in their drinking water.Last year, DuPont de Nemours Inc. and spinoffs Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc., also PFAS manufacturers, reached a $1.18 billion deal to resolve PFAS complaints by about 300 drinking water providers.Consumption of PFAS from water or other sources (e.g. nonstick cookware) accumulates PFAS in our body. Nearly everyone in the US currently has some amount of PFAS in their bodies, as the chemical can linger on for decades. PFAS have been linked to causing cancer. Recently, a large national study identified a clear link between cancer and exposure to large amounts of PFAS and BPA.
You can check PFAS levels in your community using this interactive map from EWG:https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/
A sedentary lifestyle can increase cancer risk
3. Sedentary lifestyle and lack of exerciseWith the rise of streaming services, social media, and cell phone use, there are many attractive reasons to sit in a place and consume one’s favorite content. It is unimaginable that anyone would sit in a place relatively unmoving for hours if there was not a screen there. The mental stimulation and dopamine hit gained by exploration and discovery in ages past and through millions of years of our evolution are now accessible from the comfort and safety of our couches.With mental stimulation uncoupled from physical activity, people are getting more and more sedentary. Many of us also work on our computers leaving little room for challenging physical activity during the day. Lack of exercise increases the risk of cancer. Regular physical exercise reduces the risk of bladder, breast, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, stomach, and endometrial cancer.New research also shows that exercise can have preventative benefits for prostate cancer. The number of minutes spent per week on exercise and higher intensity of exercise were found to be directly proportional to the lowered risk of breast and colorectal cancers. Scientists suggest that for breast and colon cancer, lack of exercise is probably a causal factor in cancer development. Cancer patients who started working out after receiving chemotherapy observed an improvement in the side effects of the treatment and had better survival odds, highlighting the importance of exercise in preventing cancer.
Obesity is one of the major risk factors for cancer
4. Overweight and obesityThe rates of obesity are ever-increasing in modern times. Every year, more and more Americans are suffering from obesity, and it is now affecting children too. Whether it arises from overindulging in ultraprocessed foods, a lack of education about what a nutritious diet should be like, or a sedentary lifestyle with lots of screen time for adults and kids alike, 30.7% of us are overweight and 42.4% of us are obese. According to the NIH, 9.2% of us are morbidly obese.Being overweight or obese is an important factor in 14% to 20% of cancer-related deaths. Obesity increases the risk of cancers such as post-menopause breast cancer, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophagus cancer, meningioma, and multiple myeloma.
Tobaco smoke is one of the major risk factors for lung cancer
5. Tobacco smokeAccording to the CDC, an estimated 28.3 million US adults smoked cigarettes in 2021. Tobacco smoke causes 85% of the lung cancers in the world. But the effects go beyond the lungs, as tobacco smoke can also cause colon cancer.Young adults and teenagers are more likely to vape– about 9 million people in the US currently vape. But the effects of vaping on cancer are not known yet. Vaping arguably generates fewer toxins than cigarette smoke, but it generates some toxins nevertheless that can cause mutation to cells in lab conditions. Since vaping is a relatively new phenomenon, it will likely take years of vaping for the long-term effects to accumulate and accumulate. However, physicians suspect that it will be harmful in the long run.Preventative measuresEarly screening. To keep pace with the earlier onset of cancer, screening for some common cancers is done earlier Cancer screening for colorectal cancer used to start at age 50, but now the recommendation has changed to 45. Similarly, yearly mammograms for breast cancer screening used to begin at age 50, and now the recommendation is to start at 40. If someone has a family history of cancer, the screening should begin 10-15 years before the earliest incidence of cancer onset in the family. For example, if someone’s first-degree relative such as a parent or a sibling got cancer at age 55, screening should begin for them and younger family members at age 40 or 45.Getting the HPV vaccine. HPV infection is the most widespread sexually transmitted infection in the US. The infection increases the risk of penile, mouth, and throat cancer in men and cervical cancer in women. The rates of cervical cancer have declined in young women who were vaccinated with HPV vaccines (that came out in 2006) before their 15th birthday and increased in older women who did not get the vaccine (the vaccine is not recommended for individuals over 26). Therefore, making sure that children get the HPV vaccine will prevent HPV-related cancers in young adults.Avoiding smoking. Smoking introduces so many carcinogens into the body and is a causal factor in many cancers of the lung or colon. Therefore, quitting smoking is a great first step in preventing cancer.Reducing consumption of ultraprocessed food. With limited time and budgets, it is not always possible to avoid ultraprocessed food. But increasing mindfulness about what you are buying and being intentional about food prep can have many health benefits including cancer prevention. Scientists have used nutrient charts from various items from the grocery store and generated a mathematical formula to calculate how ultraprocessed they were. In their score, they penalize added sugar and other additives. Consumers can check the ultraprocessed % of their favorite foods on the website that came out of this research, and look for healthier substitutes in each category:https://www.truefood.tech Filtering your drinking water. Using high-quality water purifiers at home can filter out large contaminants such as PFAS from the drinking water supply.You can check PFAS levels in your community using this interactive map from EWG:https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/
The information provided in our blog posts is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.
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