Eleven cancers are becoming more common in young people in England, a major analysis shows.
A full explanation for why levels of cancer are increasing remains elusive.
But the study reveals that a decades-long pattern of people becoming more overweight is likely to play some role, even though it is far from the whole story.
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London stressed cancer in young people is still rare and that everyone can reduce their risk by living a healthy lifestyle.
Why cancer has been increasing in people’s late teens, 20s, 30s and 40s has been puzzling scientists for years.
Bradley Coombes, from Portsmouth, was just 23 when he died from bowel cancer. His mum Caroline Mousdale said that despite having many “red flag” symptoms of bowel cancer, her son was often dismissed as being too young to have the disease.
She said he was “a really fit and healthy young man” about to sign a semi-professional football deal and was loving life. There was nothing that obviously put him at risk, she says.
But after his first year at university he was losing a lot of weight and having pain in his abdomen. Then came diarrhoea and blood in his stools.
Source: BBC
