Obesity-related cancers are rising at an “alarming” rate in China, especially among young people, a new study has warned.
An analysis of more than 650,000 cancer cases between 2007 and 2021, found that people born between 1997 and 2001 were 25 times more likely to be diagnosed with these types of cancers than those born between 1962 and 1966.
“Obesity-related cancer rates in China were rising at an alarming 3.6 per cent every year between 2007 and 2021 while non-obesity-related cancers remained stable,” the researchers said.
But among people aged 25 to 29, that rate stood at 15.3 per cent year-on-year.
The study, co-authored by Yang Jinkui, an endocrinologist at the Capital Medical University in Beijing, and his collaborators, was published last Friday in the peer-reviewed Med Journal of Cell Press.
The paper said the increased cancer rates among young adults “reflects recent changes in exposure to environmental and dietary factors”.
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There are 12 types of obesity-related cancers, of which colorectal, breast, thyroid, kidney and uterine cancers grew the fastest among young people.
“The trend is consistent with the growing numbers of overweight and obese young people in China,” Yang said in a press release about the study.
The team warned that without aggressive public health measures obesity-related cancer rates in China could double in the next decade.
They said the government should prioritise policies to promote healthier diets, reduce the amount of ultra-processed foods people eat and encourage physical activity.
One of the most significant increases in the 25 to 29 age bracket was colorectal cancers, which rose from 17.37 cases per 100,000 people to 23.89 per 100,000 in the time period studied.
Compared with other cancers of the digestive system, the increased number of colorectal cancer cases is closely linked to the country’s economic development and improved living standards.
The authors said lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity, tobacco use and the consumption of red meat and alcohol were one of the main causes for the rising number of cases, as well as a lack of screening that meant people missed out on the best opportunity to get early treatment.
According to an article published in 2022 on the Chinese science website Zhishi Fenzi, or The Intellectual, wealthy coastal areas such as Shanghai as well as Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, had seen a higher growth in colorectal cancers over the previous decade than Western countries.
The Beijing research team warned that adopting a “westernised lifestyle” had fuelled the rise in obesity in China.
Despite years of public health efforts, Yang warned the number of overweight or obese children and adolescents in China was approaching US levels.
In the 1980s the problem was uncommon but by 2019 34 per cent of Chinese adults were classed overweight and 16 per cent as obese.
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Obesity-related cancer is now a global public health problem.
Between 1975 and 2016, the prevalence of excess body weight in adults increased from nearly 21 per cent in men and 24 per cent in women to about 40 per cent in both sexes, according to a 2019 study by the American Cancer Society.
Many factors could account for the trend, it said, including national wealth, the increasing availability of unhealthy food and the increasingly sedentary nature of many jobs and leisure-time activities.
