Pollution and junk food: cancers are exploding among young people
Pollution and junk food: cancers are exploding among young peopleReporterre - 17 Sep 2023
In thirty years, cancers among young people have increased by 80%. The main culprits: environmental pollutants and poor diet, analyzes Dr Jean-David Zeitoun.
The figures are alarming: in 30 years, the incidence of cancer in those under 50 has jumped by 79%, the number of associated deaths by 28%, and industrialized countries seem particularly affected, reveals a large study published in the BMJ Oncology on September 5.
Using data from national cancer registries, researchers analyzed the evolution of the incidence and deaths of 29 cancers in more than 200 countries, between 1990 and 2019. The results are clear: in 2019, 3,26 million cancers have been declared in people under 50, compared to 1,82 million in 1990.
The most common cancer at this age is breast cancer. But it is nasopharyngeal and prostate cancers which present the most worrying developments. And this trend is not expected to be reversed: the incidence of early cancers is expected to increase by 31% by 2030. Deaths by 21%.
The precise causes are difficult to identify: in addition to dietary risk factors (such as a diet rich in red meat), alcohol consumption and smoking, the authors put forward other avenues: antibiotics, the intestinal microbiota or even the outdoor air pollution. A point of view shared by Jean-David Zeitoun, doctor of medicine and clinical epidemiology, and author of The suicide of the species: how human activities produce more and more diseases (ed. Denoël, February 2023).
