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In a comprehensive study covering two-thirds of the American population, they showed that half a dozen cancers for which obesity is a known risk factor became more prevalent between 1995 and 2015 in women and men under 50 years old.
The younger the age group, the faster these cancers were gaining ground, they reported in The Lancet, a medical journal.
During the reporting period, the incidence of pancreatic cancer, for example, increased by approximately 1% per year in adults aged 45 to 49 years. In the 30 to 34 age group, the average annual percentage increase was more than twice as high.
And among 25 to 29 year olds, the rate jumped 4.4% a year.
Comparing age groups 25 to 80 years, the annual increase was also highest among the cohort 25 to 29 years for four other obesity-related cancers: kidney (6.23%) gallbladder (3.71%), uterine (3.35%) and colon (2.41 percent).
"Our findings reveal a recent change that could serve as a warning regarding the increase in the number of obesity-related cancers in older adults," said co-author, Ahmedin Jemal, of the American Cancer Society, in the United States.
Obesity has more than doubled in the United States over the past four decades.
Mortality could increase
It has also risen sharply in other rich countries and, more recently, in developing countries. Today, about two billion people are overweight or obese.
With a few exceptions, cancer has been considered a disease of aging.
Indeed, researchers note that the number of new reported cancer cases remains much higher among older people, although the rate of increase is now higher among young adults.
For example, two cases of pancreatic cancer were diagnosed in 100,000 people aged 24 to 49 between 2010 and 2014, compared to 37 cases per 100,000 people aged 50 to 84 years.
Overall, the number of people who succumb to cancer in the United States has decreased.
Between 1980 and 2014, when 20 million people died of cancer, the death rate decreased by 20% from 240 to 192 deaths per 100,000 population, in part because of the reduction in use. tobacco.
"But in the future, obesity could reverse that progress," warned Jemal.
"Obesity is now one of the most preventable causes of cancer in the United States and the United Kingdom." About one in every twelve cases in the United States is caused by being overweight and more than one in twenty in the UK. "
Building on previous research suggesting a link between obesity and more common colon cancers in young adults, Jamel and his colleagues badyzed all cancer cases from 1995 to 2015 in 25 states in the United States. 67% of the population.
The data covered 30 types of cancer, of which 12 had already been linked to obesity.
Too much junk food
For five of the twelve, the rate of increase of new cases was highest in the youngest age group, and for a sixth – a form of bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma – the largest leap was observed in adults in their early thirties.
Of the 18 other types of cancer, only two had a similar pattern, the others being either stable or declining for those related to smoking and infections.
"Investigators believe that these findings are partly due to the obesity epidemic, a provocative and plausible hypothesis," commented Catherine Marinac of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brenda Birmann of the University of Ottawa. Harvard University in The Lancet.
However, the reason why the other six forms of cancer clbadified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as being related to obesity has not shown similar growth rates in young adults.
The authors called on front-line physicians to more aggressive screening for obesity and asked them to warn patients of the risk of cancer badociated with severe overweight.
In the United States, less than half of primary care physicians routinely measure their patients' body mbad index (BMI).
"The quality of the American diet has deteriorated in recent decades," said lead author Hyuna Sung, also of the American Cancer Society.
More than half of the 20 to 49 year olds eat too little fruit, vegetables and whole grains, too much salt, fast food and sugary drinks, she said.
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