For years, we understood cancer. Or, at least, we thought we did.
We figured things like bad genes and even worse habits, like smoking, were combining to create tumors that needed to be obliterated with radiation. But cancer rates are spiking among millennials, whose ages range from their late 20s to early 40s.
Now, scientists are starting to look beyond lifestyle and DNA, and more toward the toxic blend of chemicals an entire generation has been exposed to since birth. That includes things like food additives, to the sleep deprivation we’ve been experiencing, thanks to the frightening world we were raised and continue to live in.
The Washington Post provided a comprehensive look into cancer rates among millennials and found that cancer diagnoses among Americans aged 15 to 49 are up 10 percent since 2000. Women are being hit especially hard, as their cancer rate is 83 percent higher than that of men in the same age group.
Colorectal, breast, and thyroid cancers are especially aggressive, have been and continue to be on the rise, and are seemingly affecting people without genetic risk, as for why, that’s harder to pin down.
However, the authors of the article suggest that it might have begun in the 1960s and 1970s, when pregnant women were bombarded with a variety of medications like antidepressants, antinausea drugs like Bendectin, and hormone treatments that may be priming unborn children for future disease.
One drug in particular, hydroxyprogesterone caproate, a medication that reduces the risk of premature birth, has been linked to a more than twofold increase in cancer risk among those exposed in utero.
The Alarming Rise of Early Cancer in Millennials, Explained
Millennials also grew up snacking on a lot of ultra-processed foods that are more science than food. Ultra-processed foods now account for over half of daily calories in the United States and have been linked to higher cancer rates, especially colorectal cancer in younger adults.
Sleep also plays a significant role in this. Our intense work lives and late-night scrolling are disrupting our circadian rhythms. This is likely induced by our work lives, combined with the average millennial’s lifelong financial struggles.
Disrupted biological clocks may interfere with DNA repair, immune function, and hormone regulation, all of which can accelerate cancer risk.
And then of course there’s the new fear: microplastics and forever chemicals. Microplastics are in everything. That includes our blood, lungs, placentas, our hearts, and maybe our souls, at this rate.
They’re little tiny toxins that latch onto everyday plastics, soaking up environmental pollutants and disrupting hormones and inflaming tissue once inside of us. They can be directly linked to cancer and animal studies and, increasingly, in humans.
Millennials aren’t just suffering from skyrocketing cancer rates. We are also biologically aging significantly faster than previous generations, based on the biomarkers in our blood that tell scientists everything they need to know about our organ health.
We millennials aren’t victims of misfortune. We might be the first whole generation to emerge from the fallout of the postindustrial American experiment. Our bodies are aging faster and rotting sooner.
Scientists can’t figure it out quickly enough to save us before the following generations inherit it, too.
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