New research suggests cancer may develop earlier than we thought — but simple changes can help prevent it

• A new study on more than 100 risk factors for cancer sheds light on why some people get a diagnosis earlier.
• Researchers say it could help us develop customized action plans to prevent and diagnose cancer sooner.
• Helpful habits to stave off cancer include eating more fatty fish and drinking coffee or tea.

Cancer screening can feel like a rite of passage as we get older: skin cancer checks in your late 30s, a mammogram at age 40, a colonoscopy at age 45.

However, as young cancer cases have skyrocketed, the previous screening guidelines are becoming increasingly too late for patients who develop symptoms in their 20s or early 30s.

A more nuanced approach could help calculate each person’s unique risk of cancer and find the best ways to prevent it or detect it early enough for treatment, a new study suggests.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Neel Butala, is a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and cofounder of Catch, a cancer risk assessment startup.

“Age is like the best thing we have, but it’s a crude proxy for cancer risk. There are so many other things going into it,” Butala told Business Insider.

His research points toward how to personalize cancer prevention and reduce risk by optimizing lifestyle habits like diet and exercise.

“Behavior change is hard, but it’s not like you need to be a superhuman to do this,” Butala said. “There’s this positive message that change at any age can actually reduce your cancer risk a fair amount.”

Understanding cancer risk

To better understand why some people get cancer and others don’t, Butala and colleagues from Stanford, Harvard, and other universities looked at potential risk factors for 21 of the most common cancers.

They created a model to assess cancer risk over a lifetime based on a list of more than 100 factors ranging from drinking habits to medical history to over-the-counter medication and supplement use.

“What’s beautiful about the model is that we actually can incorporate all these at once…and then quantify individual risk,” Butala said.

They found that while cancer risk tends to increase as we get older overall, some people’s risk accelerates more quickly based on their lifestyle and health history. For instance, a healthy 70-year-old woman can be less prone to cancer than a high-risk woman in her 40s.

The study, published in a paper in JCO Oncology Advances last month, included people from ages 40 to 70, so it doesn’t specifically address cancer cases among people in their 20s and 30s. Still, it helps explain why current best practices can miss potential early-onset cancers and could make it easier for people to access life-saving scans, tests, or treatments sooner, Butala said.

“It’s a good conversation starter for doctors,” he said. “If you’re on the extreme end of risk, we provide evidence and how you can talk to your doctor about ‘Maybe I need a colonoscopy at an earlier age.'”

Many patients with early-onset colon cancer, for instance, have said they struggled to get a colonoscopy because medical staff thought they were too young. As a result, some patients aren’t diagnosed until later stages, when the cancer has spread and is harder to treat.

Butala said that individualized cancer assessments could also help people make healthier lifestyle choices tailored to their specific needs.

“The risk reduction, it’s like an action plan,” Butala said. “Showing people the lifetime impact of their behaviors can actually reduce the risk.”

Best habits to prevent cancer

Butala said a major takeaway of the study is that cancer risk isn’t inevitable, and healthier habits can help lower the risk of cancer as we age.

“In your 60s, if you modify your behavior, you end up looking like… you’re in your 50s,” he said.

You don’t need to overhaul your life or optimize every decision to benefit.

Since cancer risk rises as we age, older adults might benefit even more from making changes, according to Butala.

“There’s no age at which it’s too late to start,” he said. “Over a lifetime, starting earlier makes more sense, but really the biggest bang for your buck is when you’re older.”