Obesity and Cancer Risks in Young Adults
Millennials at higher risk than preceding generations.
Recent findings reveal a trend toward increased risk for obesity-related cancers among young American adults. The study, published in The Lancet, found significant increases in six of 12 obesity-related cancers in young adults, with even greater rises in successively younger generations. Compared with people born 1945-1954, for example, those born 1980–1989 had double the risk . . . at the same age.
Findings are based on analysis of 20 years of cancer incidence data in 25 states, covering 67% of the U.S. population.
“Although the absolute risk of these cancers is small in younger adults, these findings have important public health implications,” said principal investigator Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, scientific vice president of surveillance and health services research at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. Jemal warned that increasing rates of overweight and obesity among young adults combined with these cancer trends could halt or reverse past progress in reducing cancer mortality made over several decades and may portend future health problems when these individuals become older adults.
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.