Something in the environment or our bodies has genuinely shifted.
Across England, eleven cancers are quietly but measurably rising among people aged eighteen to forty, prompting scientists to confront the limits of what they currently understand about disease and modern life. Rising obesity since the 1990s offers a partial explanation, yet accounts for only a fraction of the increase, leaving the majority of cases without a clear cause. The story of Bradley Coombes — a twenty-three-year-old athlete who died of bowel cancer after eighteen months of dismissed symptoms — reminds us that statistical rarity offers little comfort to those caught inside the trend. Researchers press forward, and the science, however incomplete, still affirms that the choices within our reach carry real weight.
- Eleven cancer types are climbing in young adults across England, with bowel and breast cancers alone accounting for roughly 11,500 new cases each year in people under forty.
- Bradley Coombes, fit and twenty-three, died of bowel cancer after doctors repeatedly told him he was too young to be at risk — his diagnosis arriving only when the tumour was too large to see past.
- Scientists expected to find worsening lifestyle habits driving the trend, but smoking is down, alcohol stable, and physical activity unchanged — only obesity has moved in the wrong direction.
- Obesity explains perhaps twenty of every hundred extra bowel cancer cases in young people, leaving eighty cases without an answer and researchers investigating ultra-processed foods, PFAS chemicals, and antibiotic use.
- Cancer in young adults remains statistically rare — roughly one in a thousand — but the upward trajectory has alarmed researchers who stress that maintaining a healthy weight and staying active can still meaningfully reduce individual risk.
Eleven cancers are growing more common among young people in England, according to a major analysis by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London. The list includes bowel, breast, thyroid, liver, kidney, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers, among others. Bowel and breast cancers are the most prevalent, together accounting for around eleven thousand five hundred cases a year in adults under forty.
Bradley Coombes was twenty-three, athletic, and close to signing a semi-professional football contract when his health began to collapse. Rapid weight loss gave way to abdominal pain and bleeding. For eighteen months, doctors dismissed his symptoms — he was simply too young, they said, to fit the profile. By the time he received a colonoscopy, the tumour was too large for the camera to pass. Surgery and chemotherapy could not save him. He died with his dog Buster beside him.
What makes the trend so difficult to explain is that the lifestyle factors most associated with cancer risk have not worsened. Smoking has declined. Alcohol and physical activity levels have held steady. Red meat consumption and fibre intake show no clear pattern. The only variable that tracks with the rise is obesity, which has grown steadily since the 1990s. Excess fat tissue alters hormones like insulin in ways that can promote cancer — a plausible mechanism, but one that accounts for only about twenty of every hundred additional bowel cancer cases. The other eighty remain unexplained.
Researchers are now turning their attention to ultra-processed foods, PFAS chemicals, and antibiotic use as possible contributors, while also asking whether improved detection is simply finding cancers that would previously have gone unnoticed in younger patients. Professor Marc Gunter of Imperial College London was candid about the uncertainty. What the science does affirm, researchers stress, is that cancer in young adults remains rare — roughly one in a thousand — and that staying active and maintaining a healthy weight still offers meaningful protection, even as the deeper questions remain open.
Eleven different cancers are becoming more common in young people across England, according to a major analysis that has left researchers searching for answers. Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London have identified one partial culprit: the steady rise in obesity over the past three decades. But they are careful to emphasize that this explains only a fraction of what is happening. For every hundred additional bowel cancer cases in young adults, obesity accounts for roughly twenty. The other eighty remain unexplained.
Bradley Coombes was twenty-three when he died of bowel cancer. He was fit, athletic, and on the verge of signing a semi-professional football contract when his body began to fail him. After his first year at university, he started losing weight rapidly. Abdominal pain followed, then diarrhoea and blood in his stools. His mother, Caroline Mousdale, watched as doctors repeatedly dismissed her son's symptoms. He was too young, they said. Nothing in his profile suggested he was at risk. It took eighteen months of deteriorating health before he finally received a colonoscopy. By then, the tumour was so large it blocked the camera from entering his bowel. Surgery and chemotherapy could not save him. He died with his dog Buster at his side.
The puzzle of why cancer is rising in people in their late teens, twenties, thirties, and forties has confounded scientists for years. The eleven cancers now increasing include bowel, breast, thyroid, multiple myeloma, liver, kidney, gallbladder, pancreatic, endometrial, mouth, and ovarian cancers. Bowel and breast cancers are the most common, accounting for roughly eleven thousand five hundred cases annually in younger adults. Pancreatic and gallbladder cancers remain rare. Only bowel and ovarian cancers are rising exclusively in the young; the other nine are also increasing in older age groups.
When researchers examined the lifestyle factors already known to drive cancer risk, they found something unexpected: most of them were improving or holding steady. Smoking rates have declined. Alcohol consumption patterns have not worsened. Physical activity levels have remained stable or improved. Red and processed meat consumption and fibre intake show no pattern that would explain the rise. Yet cancer keeps climbing. The only data point that aligned with the increase was obesity. Since the nineteen-nineties, the proportion of overweight and obese people has grown steadily. Extra fat tissue alters hormones like insulin, which can influence cancer risk. It is a plausible mechanism, but it is not the whole story.
Professor Montserrat García Closas from the Institute of Cancer Research acknowledged the concern. "It is very worrisome to hear the news that cancers are increasing in young people," she told the BBC. But she emphasized that individuals retain agency. Being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce risk. The researchers also noted that while the trend is troubling, cancer in young people remains statistically rare. About one in one thousand people in their twenties, thirties, and forties receive a cancer diagnosis each year, compared to roughly one in one hundred among those in their fifties, sixties, and seventies.
The search for other explanations continues. Researchers are investigating ultra-processed foods, forever chemicals known as PFAS, and antibiotic use as potential contributors. Some scientists are also asking whether improved detection methods are simply catching more cancers at younger ages than before. Professor Marc Gunter from Imperial College London was candid: there is much that remains unknown. What is clear is that the increase cannot be attributed to a single cause, and that lifestyle choices—the ones within a person's control—still matter significantly in reducing cancer risk.
Notable Quotes
It is very worrisome to hear the news that cancers are increasing in young people. However, there are things that can be done to reduce the risk of cancer by having a healthy lifestyle—for instance, being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.— Professor Montserrat García Closas, Institute of Cancer Research
I really felt, like every parent, that he would have conquered his football dreams, he would have just had a fantastic life and that's been taken away from him, because early onset bowel cancer hadn't been identified.— Caroline Mousdale, mother of Bradley Coombes
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would obesity specifically correlate with cancer in young people when so many other risk factors are actually improving?
Fat tissue isn't inert. It produces hormones and inflammatory compounds that can alter how cells behave. When obesity rises across a population, you'd expect to see certain cancers follow. But here's the unsettling part: obesity only accounts for a fraction of what we're seeing. Something else is happening.
What about the people who aren't overweight? Are they getting these cancers too?
Yes. That's what makes this so difficult. Bradley Coombes was described as fit and healthy. He had no obvious risk factors. And yet he developed bowel cancer at twenty-three. The obesity trend is a clue, not an explanation.
The article mentions ultra-processed foods and PFAS chemicals. Why aren't those being blamed?
Because the data isn't there yet. Those are hypotheses. The researchers are being honest about what they don't know. It's actually more credible than if they'd invented a neat answer.
Does it matter that detection is getting better? Could we just be finding more cancers?
That's being investigated, but it doesn't fully explain it either. You can't improve your way into an epidemic. Something in the environment or our bodies has genuinely shifted.
What would you tell someone in their thirties who's worried?
The risk is still very low. One in a thousand per year. And the things that reduce risk—not smoking, staying active, maintaining a healthy weight—those still work. You're not powerless, even if we don't fully understand what's driving the trend.
Why do you think Caroline Mousdale's story matters so much here?
Because it shows what happens when a young person's symptoms get dismissed. Bradley had clear warning signs for eighteen months. By the time anyone listened, it was too late. That's not just a medical failure. It's a failure to take early-onset cancer seriously.