A doctor is speaking up about the surge in cancer cases among young people – revealing ‘every new patient’ that comes to his clinic is under 45 years old.
North Carolina’s Duke University oncologist Dr Nicholas DeVito says he and his colleagues have experienced a complete demographic switch in recent years.
Based on what he’s seeing everyday, talking to patients on the ground and analyzing the data, he blames the rise of junk food diets.
Nearly 75 percent of food consumed in the US is considered ultra-processed and it is teeming with additives and potentially harmful ingredients.
Numerous studies have found an association between a high ultra-processed foods (UPFs) diet and more than 30 conditions, including multiple cancers, and an early grave.
The above graph shows the change in early-onset cancer rates around the world split by female (pink) and male (blue)
The above graph shows colon cancer cases among under 50s rising by more than 5,500 in 20 years. There is a drop in 2020 because the Covid pandemic led to fewer people coming forward for screenings
North Carolina ‘s Duke University oncologist Dr Nicholas DeVito says he and his colleagues have experienced a complete demographic switch in recent years
Dr DeVito has called on officials across industries and political parties to do more to protect Americans from the harmful products.
The physician wrote for STAT News: ‘The desire to protect Americans from substances that cause cancer and other diseases should transcend party affiliation and political motivation to overcome industrial lobbying efforts.
‘This was possible with tobacco, and it is possible with food.’
He added: ‘To be sure, this will require Americans to make different choices about what they eat to prioritize their health over the profit of corporations and, at times, even their own convenience.’
Early studies have shown that UPFs – foods that have been through several rounds of processing and have had artificial ingredients added to them – can alter the gut microbiome, which is the collection of healthy bacteria in our bodies.
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The foods have also been shown to irritate the intestinal walls and cause chronic inflammation.
All of these things are believed to increase the risk of cancer.
Between 1990 and 2019, cases of cancer in young people across the globe increased by 79 percent and deaths rose 28 percent.
The US has the sixth highest rate of early-onset cancers – disease in people under 50 – with 87 cases per 100,000 people younger than 50 years old.
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And studies project diagnoses of early-onset cancers will rise by 31 percent and deaths will rise by 21 percent by 2030.
Cancers increasing the fastest include throat and prostate cancers. Early-onset cancers with the highest mortality include breast, tracheal (windpipe), lung, stomach and colon.
But 40 percent of cancers in the US are caused by risk factors that can be changed, according to an American Cancer Society study – and the cancers could be avoided if lifestyles improved.
These factors include alcohol use, smoking, inactivity and the consumption of UPFs.
While its long been known an unhealthy diet of fats and sugars is harmful to health, experts are calling for more attention to be paid to the ingredient labels – not just the nutrition facts.
Analyzing those reveal much of the ‘healthy’ foods people eat are teeming with artificial ingredients, classifying them as ultra-processed foods.
To avoid these, a rule of thumb is to stick to products with fewer than five ingredients and avoid items with ingredients that are hard to pronounce.
A 2023 study in the journal Clinical Nutrition found a ‘consistent significant association between intake of UPF and the risk of overall and several cancers,’ including colon, breast and pancreatic.
Taylor Simone Ledward-Boseman – the widow of the late Chadwick Boseman (pictured together) – has warned young people they are ‘vastly underestimating’ their risk of cancer. Her husband died at 43 from colon cancer
Kate Middleton was diagnosed with cancer at 42 following abdominal surgery
A separate meta-analysis also found a diet high in UPFs was associated with more than 30 health conditions, including colon, rectal, and pancreatic cancers; obesity, which raises the risk of cancer; as well as heart disease and diabetes.
Dr DeVito, who sees patients with gastrointestinal cancers like colon and stomach – two that have among the highest mortality rates – said food ‘can play a major role’ in prevention – a concerning fact given nearly 75 percent of food consumed in the US is considered ultra-processed.
The oncologist wrote: ‘Food can play a major role here, making one’s knowledge of ingredients, the American food system, and how what they eat affects their body critical for decreasing cancer incidence.’
He compared UPFs to tobacco, which became widespread about a century ago and wasn’t regulated until 2009. Following the boom, rates of lung cancer began to increase until about the 1990s.
While the FDA is now allowed to regulate tobacco, no such power exists for ultra-processed foods in the US – unlike in Europe, which has stricter guidelines and more rigorous testing.
This lack of regulation has allowed a surge in UPFs on the market and led to the increase in their consumption.
Dr DeVito believes, however, that just like with tobacco, ‘collective efforts by healthcare providers, public health experts, governments and other organizations’ could have a major impact on the UPF market and decrease cancer deaths.
Data from JAMA Surgery showed that colon cancer is expected to rise by 90 percent in people ages 20 to 34
The same data shows that rectal cancer will rise by 124 percent in the youngest age group
He wrote: ‘Local and state governments have the responsibility to work to eradicate food deserts, offering affordable, healthier choices than fast and ultra-processed foods in every ZIP code.’
He called on the federal government to push the FDA to more stringently control processing of and additives in foods, while also addressing the variety and availability of healthier choices.
He recommended doctors discuss UPF consumption with their patients and advise they avoid the products. He also suggested that grocery stores label UPF products and separate them from healthy foods
Dr DeVito wrote: ‘I hope to have a long career in oncology and eventually practice in an era where the US has turned the tide against early-onset gastrointestinal cancers and few, if any, of my patients are under age 50.’