Dr. Carole Myers
Welcome to Health Connections. The show about people health and policy. I'm Dr Carole Myers. Today, Michael Holtz, a cancer survivor advocate and senior communications and marketing specialist for Oak Ridge Associated Universities, is here for a follow up discussion on steps that can be taken to address the rising number of cancers among young adults. Welcome, Michael.
Michael Holtz
Thanks for having me back Carol.
Could you please paint a picture of cancer in young adults?
So we're seeing that 14 of the 33 major cancers are increasing in incidence among people under the age of 50. So we're talking about breast cancer, colorectal, pancreatic, kidney, gastric, thyroid, a lot of major and a lot of deadly ones. Uterine cancer is in there as well.
It begs the questions, what are some basic health management steps that our listeners can take to reduce cancer risk?
Think the first one is just to have a primary care doctor. It's important to have a doctor who can follow you, knows what's going on with your life, and especially can remind you when it's time to get those life saving cancer screenings. And, be paying attention to what's going on in your body. It's also important to know your risk of cancer if you have a family history, that certainly is part of it. Most cancers aren't hereditary, though, so you want to be aware of risk factors that are related to lifestyle, to race, ethnicity, exercise, obesity, all of those lifestyle and you know those inborn factors that you may need to be aware of.
Let's segue to looking at lifestyle, which is a major factor in most chronic diseases, including cancer. What lifestyle recommendations are important for reducing risk of cancer in young adults?
Most importantly is avoidance of ultra-processed foods, things that cause inflammation in the body, which can be related to some of the chronic illnesses that we're talking about can be related to cancer. So, ultra-processed foods, processed meats, getting enough exercise, getting enough sleep.
Let's go back to some of the typical things we talk about screening and prevention. What are the important points related to young adults and cancers as it relates to screening and prevention.
Knowing, particularly for women, when to start getting cervical cancer screenings, when to start getting those pap smears, getting vaccinations, getting vaccinated for HPV, which causes a number of cervical and genital related cancers. And then, understanding when cancer screenings, like breast exams, when colonoscopies need to happen again. If you have a family history, making sure that you talk to your doctor about getting those screenings sooner, and this is why it's important to have a primary care doctor. If something is going on that doesn't feel, right to talk to your doctor about whatever that is.
I would like to hear if you have any parting words for our listeners that you have learned through either of your two roles.
I think it's important for folks to understand that really what we're dealing with is a public health crisis. I would love it if people would call their legislators, call their members of Congress, call their senators, to tell them we need more research funding. We need more research to understand why this is happening.
