Professor Sarah Berry has issued an urgent call for people aged between 18 and 50 to sign up to a new research project, following worrying new statistics on cancer rates. The nutritional scientist said those born between 1975 and 2008 should take part in the study.
Rising cancer rates in younger adults
The World Cancer Research Fund has said the increase in people getting cancer before the age of 50 is not confined to bowel cancer. The charity reported rises in rates of prostate, kidney, womb, liver, pancreas and breast cancers among adults under 50.
While most cancers are still diagnosed in older adults, the charity described the trajectory as “concerning”. Professor Berry is a world-leading nutritional scientist, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London, and Chief Scientist at the health science company ZOE.
Prospect UK study aims to find answers
She is calling for people to sign up to the research project in a bid to understand the rise. Professor Berry said: ”We’ve seen since the 1990s a 20% increase in bowel cancer in people under 50 years of age and it’s increasing year and year.
“More people under 50 are being diagnosed with bowel cancer than ever before. And this is rising rapidly. The way we live our lives has fundamentally changed in the last 50 years, including our diet. What role might these changes play in the rise of early onset bowel cancer? Well, Prospect UK is a new study trying to answer these questions, and you can be part of it.
Prospect UK is a large UK-wide research study looking at how diet, lifestyle, and other health factors influence the risk of developing bowel cancer at a younger age. With your help, we want to understand how diet, lifestyle, and daily habits influence cancer risk, how the gut microbiome plays a role, and how changes over time affect your long-term health. By taking part, you’ll be helping us build one of the first UK studies focused on bowel cancer in younger people. This research could help to identify risk factors earlier and importantly improve prevention in the future.
Known risk factors account for 60% of risk
“The Prospect study is a huge research program to identify the risk factors linked to early onset bowel cancer. What do we already know can increase the risk of bowel cancer? alcohol intake, physical inactivity, smoking, dietary factors, and living with obesity. Together, they account for about 60% of the risk of developing bowel cancer.
“Whilst we know diet and lifestyle is really important, there’s also so many questions that we have, there’s so much that we don’t know. So, there’s exposures like environmental exposures, but we don’t know necessarily everything that we’re looking for. And this is what’s great about this research. We can go on a little bit of a hunting expedition.”
She explained that the science workers are ‘in a race against time’ to understand early-onset bowel cancer. Team Prospect is a global research effort bringing together scientists to understand why bowel cancer is increasing in younger adults.
Professor Berry is the Chief Investigator for Prospect-UK, which is aiming to recruit 250,000 people across the UK. She said: “If you’re over 18, under 50 and living in the UK, you can take part. It involves answering short questions about your diet, lifestyle and health every six months.
“I’d really encourage you to share this with friends or family who may want to take part too. This research could ultimately help us prevent disease and save lives.”
