Obesity-linked cancers rising faster in young adults than over-45s, study shows

UK campaigners back calls for obesity screening to address timebomb of weight-related disease in NHS

Pancreatic cancer diagnoses rising by 4.3 per cent a year in 25- to 29-year-olds, compared to less than 1 per cent for over-45s (Getty)

Medical experts have warned that obesity-related cancers are rising more quickly in younger Americans than in the older generation, a potential timebomb that could derail decades of progress in cutting cancer deaths.

There are 12 cancers whose risk is significantly linked to obesity, and half of these – including colorectal, kidney, pancreatic and multiple myeloma – are rising faster in the youngest age groups, the US researchers found.

Far from being healthier than older generations, young adults are living more of their lives overweight. This increases the risk of cancer as well as a host of other conditions like bowel disease and diabetes, and UK experts said the NHS was already contending with similar problems

“Our findings expose a recent change that could serve as a warning of an increased burden of obesity-related cancers to come in older adults,” said one of the lead authors, Dr Ahmedin Jemal from the American Cancer Society.

“Most cancers occur in older adults, which means that as the young people in our study age, the burden of obesity-related cancer cases and deaths are likely to increase even more.”

The study, released on World Cancer Day on Monday and published in the journal Lancet Public Health, used data from 25 US cancer databases – spanning two-thirds of the US population.

It found that between 1995 and 2014, the 25- to 29-year-old age group had the biggest increases in obesity-linked cancers, and that the size of the increase grew with each successively younger age group down from the age of 85.

Cancers are still more commonly diagnosed in older people, but the gap could shrink if trends continue.

For example, pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease, with just 1 per cent of people who contract it surviving past 10 years in the UK.

In the US there are 37 pancreatic cancers diagnosed for every 100,000 people age 50 to 84, compared to two for every 100,000 25- to 49-year-olds.

But the Lancet study shows the number of pancreatic cancers diagnosed in those older than 45 rose by less than 1 per cent each year, while the numbers diagnosed in 25- to 29-year-olds rose 4.3 per cent a year.

To address this it called for more obesity screening and weight loss counselling, with fewer than half of GPs in the US regularly measuring patients’ BMI. It also proposes curbs on advertising for junk food and tax on sugary drinks, as has recently been implemented in the UK.

UK obesity experts warned that the Britain is seeing worrying rises in obesity-linked type 2 diabetes in young people.

“Shockingly, if the same is happening with cancer in the US it could already be happening here though as yet unreported,” said Tam Fry chair of the National Obesity Forum.

“Such a discovery could negate our own recent advances in treating cancers but until the NHS seriously begins to screen for obesity, as recommended by the study’s authors, we may not know.”