Diets high in red meat, salt and alcohol have driven a “global surge” in cancer among young people since the Nineties, a study suggests.
Unhealthy habits including not eating enough fruit and vegetables and smoking are key risk factors for the most common early onset cancers.
Encouraging a healthy lifestyle, including greater activity levels, could reduce levels of cancer among under-50s, researchers concluded.
Worldwide, new cases of cancer in under-50s rose 79 per cent between 1990 and 2019 to 3.26 million. In the UK, cases rose by 16 per cent from 35,000 to 42,000.
While cancer remains overwhelmingly a disease of old age, a number of studies have raised concerns about an increase in diagnoses among younger people.