Fresh fears as doctors chart explosion in cancer that's surging more rapidly that colon cancer - food favourite could be to blame
Cases of uterine cancer, otherwise known as womb cancers, are predicted to rise by up to 53 per cent in some women by 2050, according to a new study by US researchers.
More alarmingly, deaths from the disease are thought to soar in women aged 18-84 by between 83 and 98 per cent over the next 25 years.
In comparison, while colon cancer is rising by 2.4 per cent annually in those under 50, across all age groups, diagnoses are declining by around one per cent every year, studies show.
Meanwhile, average deaths from bowel cancer are seeing an annual decline of roughly one per cent—despite the rising toll of younger victims.
The authors of the new study, from Columbia University in the US, discovered a particularly stark ethnic difference in the numbers affected by the disease.
They've forecasted that cases will increase by 28.6 per cent in white women and 53 per cent in black women.
Staggeringly, deaths from uterine cancer among black women will increase by 97.9 per cent, compared to 83.6 per cent in white women.
Scientists believe the higher rates in black women may be because they tend to have aggressive types of uterine cancer and face longer delays in treatment and diagnosis.
Lead author of the new study Jason D. Wright, MD said that the alarming predictions do not take into account any future preventions, treatments or cures for uterine cancers that could reduce death rate.
The overall rise is thought to be due to the increased prevalence of a major driver of the disease—obesity.
Research by Cancer Research UK found that a third of UK womb cancer cases are caused by being overweight or obese.
Scientists believe that obesity increases the levels of two hormones—fasting insulin and testosterone—both of which have been found to drive uterine tumours.
Adult and childhood obesity rates have doubled since 1990 across the globe, studies have shown, with the increased availability of ultra-processed food (UPF) thought to be a major culprit.
Dr Chris van Tulleken, expert in infectious disease at University College London, said previously that he has 'no doubt' that there's a connection between cancer and UPFs—foods which contain at least one ingredient you wouldn't find in a standard kitchen.
'We have more than a dozen good quality studies indicating a link between cancer and ultra-processed foods,' he previously told The Mail on Sunday.
These foods include the likes of cakes, crisps and ready meals, and typically contain high levels of calories, sugar, salt and fat.
Uterine cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in high income countries and is the fourth most common for women in the UK.
LINE IN ABOUT CHERYL - WHEN DIAGNOSED ETC
For the study, Dr Wright and his colleagues built a model to help predict future rates of uterine cancer across the US.
Their model was based on a population sample of women aged 18 to 84, who were born over the last 100 years.
They then tracked the incidence of diseases among the women over the course of a lifetime, including uterine cancers, and used the annual increase in disease to predict the number of future diagnoses.
As part of the model, the researchers added in a test to see if the outcomes could be changed if the women were invited to attend a screening test that could detect precancerous changes.
This was msot effective when introduced at age 55, with declines in cancer incidence that lasted up to 15 years in white women and up to 16 years in black women.
Wright said: 'The testing suggests that if there was an effective screening test, we may be able to substantially reduce the burden of disease.'
According to Cancer Research UK, 34 per cent of uterine cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
The new findings come as experts warn of a concerning and mysterious rise in rates of bowel cancer among under 50s.
A recent global study found rates of bowel cancer in under 50 year-olds are rising in 27 of 50 nations.
England is averaging a 3.6 per cent rise in younger adults every year-one of the highest increases recorded, with roughly two per cent rise among young people in the US.
While the disease is known to be linked to obesity, experts have noted that it also seems to be occurring in fit and healthy patients.
Some believe the explanation must lie in environmental factors young people have been exposed to more than previous generations, such as plastics and even pollution.
Signs of bowel cancer include abdominal pain, a lump in the abdomen, bloating and feeling very tired or short of breath.
Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in the stool, occurs when cancerous tumours bleed into the digestive tract.
However, bowel cancer can also appear with no symptoms until it has spread, where it becomes harder to treat.
Overall, just over half of bowel cancer patients are expected to be alive 10 years after their diagnosis.
But cancers of all types are on the rise in young people.
In a landmark study, Cancer Research UK examined 50 years of NHS data and found that the risk of developing cancer has risen sharply, particularly among young people.
In this demographic diagnoses had risen by up to 23 per cent in people aged 20 to 49.
Researchers are still trying to explore factors being the rise in early onset cancers, with some suggesting modern diets, exposures to microplastics, or a combination of several triggers could be to blame.
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Times letters: NHS to prefer homegrown doctors and nurses
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With the rise in other supporting roles, including physiotherapists and pharmacists, over the past few years, practices are already struggling — and that is without any funding for the necessary increase in consulting space. Perhaps the only solution would be for doctors to undertake more remote working from home to free up space, reducing the number of face-to-face appointments — something that might not go down well with Jeremy SK Phipps MRCGPWothorpe, Cambs Sir, I represent the industry that supplies four out of five NHS medicines and welcome the news that the UK's two drug regulatory bodies (the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) will collaborate to improve efficiency. Crucially, their task force must enable more patients to access appropriate medicines, regardless of whether the drug is new. As a result of competition, prices typically drop by up to 90 per cent when a drug's patent expires, saving the NHS more than £18 billion last year and meaning that the UK has the lowest drug prices in Europe. About 250 medicine patents are set to expire during this parliament, which, if adopted without delay, could save the NHS an extra £3 billion a year; just a day's delay in licensing an off-patent medicine can cost the NHS millions. Meanwhile, Nice continues to focus on high-cost, patented drugs because its funding model depends on fees from evaluating them. This structure is fundamentally unsuited to the generics sector that supplies most NHS medicines. Officials across Whitehall and NHS England are working hard to realise the full benefits of off-patent medicines, but looming budget cuts now threaten these very SamuelsChief executive, Medicines UK Sir, Your news report might give the impression that overseas qualified doctors are being employed in preference to UK-trained doctors. This could not be further from the truth (bar a few exceptions). Your article rightly notes the rising number of unemployed British graduates. This is entirely the result of the increasing practice of employing physician associates to undertake jobs that should be done by resident Arun BaksiEmeritus consultant physician,Wootton Bridge, Isle of Wight Sir, I totally agree with Robin Allum's letter (Jul 1) on Martha's Rule. I am a retired consultant radiologist, also with 50 years' experience in the NHS. During that time I was, for five years, responsible for the medical training and welfare of 150 junior doctors. In 1998 I was on a government committee to advise on the application of the European working time directive to junior doctors and their training. The government did not listen to a word of our advice . Thus a young doctor could fulfil all the 48 hours allowed over a weekend shift and have no hours left in the week for essential training on ward rounds, in theatre etc. The young doctors became very disillusioned and did not work as a team, as they had previously. Continuity of care was lost and also the camaraderie involved in teamwork. That working directive changed the face of medicine. Previously doctors had a separate dining room; they could eat a sandwich together and discuss various difficult-to-diagnose patients. That has all gone. As Allum says, the medical profession should be very grateful to the Mills and James families for the pressure to apply Martha's Rule. How sad that it has become Luck FRCRAscot, Berks Sir, Michael Johnstone (letter, Jul 1) may congratulate himself on asking for a table for two in full knowledge that he will be dining alone, and thus ensuring he will not be given an inferior table. But it is dishonest. And it denies the restaurant the chance to use that table for a genuine party of two and to increase its income in these difficult times for the hospitality industry — rather like paying for one train seat and then using a second seat for your luggage and denying a paying passenger a chance to sit down. His tactic may work once but he may well find himself, deservedly, asked to move right out of the restaurant the next time he tries it NeubergerLondon NW11 Sir, Further to Michael Johnstone's letter, I always feel it adds credence to my table for two if I order two glasses of wine on arrival. The second rarely goes to WilliamsAston Rowant, Oxon Sir, If Bobby Vylan's racist diatribe had contained the n-word or the P-word, we can be sure that the BBC would — rightly — have pulled the plug ('BBC boss left Glastonbury death chants on livestream', news, Jul 1). The BBC's apology is necessary but insufficient. The key point that requires both investigation and personal (not just institutional) responsibility is why a stream of anti-Jewish invective didn't trouble a single pair of ears within the large BBC production team at Wolfson of Tredegar KCShadow attorney-general; justice minister 2020-22 Sir, In his excellent comment article ('What's Starmer's big idea? He needs to tell us', Jul 1), William Hague says that 'the prime minister could stand up after a year in office and explain the world he has now seen'. Given that the gift of the gab may be not one of Sir Keir Starmer's sterling qualities, which communication channels would Hague suggest to the prime minister, in a world in which adults spend more time on their phones than watching television and reading newspapers? A prime ministerial broadcast monthly or quarterly perhaps? It must be more difficult getting messages and ideas, sometimes complex, across in a world of soundbites on social ChapmanLondon SE1 Sir, The letter from IH Piper (Jun 26) illustrates one of the core problems in maternity care: the belief that women's health issues can be fixed with a scalpel and a bit of surgical bravado. Forced episiotomy and repair are not the silver bullets he imagines. In fact, they sit among the reasons women feel traumatised and ignored by the very system meant to care for them. Those who think the answer to maternity failings is 'cut more, stitch better' have not been listening — to clinicians, to evidence and, most importantly, to women. His throwaway line about non-qualified staff also reveals the deeper rot: the devaluation of women's health, where under-resourced services are patched up with cheap fixes and the myth that technical interventions can substitute for compassion, time and trust. We don't need 'birthing technicians'. Rather, we need to support obstetricians and midwives, whose expertise in holistic, safe and respectful care is too often sidelined or Dalton MRCOGLeeds Sir, You report that players and spectators are struggling to hear Wimbledon's AI line calls ('Players call out whispering AI judges', Jul 1). I suggest a Dalek is employed at each court to announce the calls, as their distinctive diction is easily understood. Also, and to emphasise that they have called out, the Dalek should waggle its forehead-mounted exterminator. The umpire could be issued with a sonic screwdriver to adjust the volume as RileySandhurst, Berks Sir, Your report on healthcare advice in the Middle Ages ('First catch a lizard: beauty tips from the Middle Ages', Jun 30) calls to mind the writings of the Benedictine nun Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). She suggested recipes for healthy eating, with recommendations that 'Butter should be eaten in moderation by those who are fat lest his weak flesh becomes fatter' and 'salt is good but not to excess' (Physica, Book 2), which seem ubiquitous in guidance on modern healthy living. Hildegard also extolled the benefits of camomile, but her advice to 'drink water with the dried liver of a lion as an aid to digestion' did not seem to catch on. Her recipes for 'boiling hedgehog with wine and cinnamon recommended for a good healthy supper' and 'earthworms mashed to a paste with wine, vinegar and flour for scrofula' are less appealing. She said slugs could be used if there were no earthworms to hand (Physica, Book 7).Dr Valerie ShrimplinSt Albans Sir, Further to Joanna Williams's comment article (Jun 30; letters, Jul 1), communications to clergy from our diocesan office seem more interested in net zero, church buildings and community events than in sharing the Gospel. Nationally, the fact that many of our bishops seem content in debates to jettison Christ's teaching suggests a lack of personal conviction about the core truths of Christianity. Inevitably, this leads to decline. But those churches that unashamedly teach Scripture — however counter-cultural this is — are bucking the trend, being attended by many of all ages. This is not down to great talent on their part, but simply the truth and power of the good news about PaineVicar, St Andrew the Great, Cambridge Sir, I read with interest Lucy Cavendish's article about Mounjaro and how it affected her family (Times2, Jun 30). 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You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than grave of you, whatever you are!'Stephen BussSeaford, E Sussex Write to letters@
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Mysterious underground base tied to deadly UFO encounters may exist after decades of rumors
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The local community hasn't just seen things in the sky, as they've taken photos of strange craft around the mountain, as well as unexplained cow mutilations in nearby fields. Recently, declassified records have revealed how the US government could have created the massive complex inside Archuleta Mesa, using a machine that literally melts rock instead of drilling. The records may one day help prove the stories of at least one alleged whistleblower, who claimed he survived that deadly encounter with the aliens hiding inside the government facility. UFO and government conspiracy researcher John Greenewald was able to uncover documents revealing that a machine called the Subterrene was built and tested in the 1970s. The Subterrene is a nuclear-powered tunneling machine developed to bore through rock and soil by melting them with extreme heat, creating smooth, glass-lined tunnels. It was created by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, just 100 miles from the site of the alleged New Mexico base inside Archuleta Mesa. Although the declassified documents confirmed that the Subterrene exists, there were no records of it being used to build Dulce Base. If the mountain base does exist, however, one man already revealed what it looks like, claiming that Dulce Base has seven floors devoted to genetic experiments, extraterrestrial technology, mind control, and housing for alien beings. The man who allegedly saw the inside of Dulce Base was Phil Schneider, a self-proclaimed former government engineer and geologist. Before he died in 1996, Schneider repeatedly claimed that he suffered severe injuries, including the loss of several fingers, during a deadly battle with aliens inside the complex. According to Schneider, who never showed proof of his government ties, 66 military personnel and government workers perished in the fight after a human team accidentally drilled into an alien-controlled section of the base. Schneider also made unsubstantiated claims that the US government was creating hundreds of these mountain bases around the nation using advanced technology. At UFO lectures, Schneider would also reveal a piece of metal that he claimed was alien technology from the Dulce base, and that it was now being used in US stealth aircraft. The rumors of a mysterious Dulce base go back to the mid-1970s, when New Mexico State Police officer Gabe Valdez was one of many locals who started finding the mangled remains of cattle near the mountain. These cows hadn't been killed by a local predator. They appeared to have been surgically disassembled, with specific organs removed and all the blood drained out. In local radio interviews, Valdez also claimed that gas masks, glow sticks, and other equipment had been left behind at the scene of the attacks. In 1979, Albuquerque businessman and physicist Paul Bennewitz claimed he intercepted unusual electronic signals near Dulce. He would go on to theorize that the signals were coming from an underground base being used by both aliens and the US government, a theory that became widely shared among UFO researchers at the time. However, Bennewitz's claims were later dismissed by the UFO community after several researchers discovered declassified Air Force documents linking the businessman to a government disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting UFO stories. Despite being seemingly debunked by the Air Force documents in the 1990s, locals in Dulce continue to maintain that the mountain is a true UFO hotspot. 'It's not just a fairy tale,' Julian said in 2016. 'All the things are true, and I believe every last one of them, too, because I've seen it myself.' Julian added in an interview with KOAT that she saw one of the genetic experiments allegedly created in Dulce Base, saying that it was a 'goat with a tail' from the waist down, but had the upper body and head of a human. Other locals said they've seen the ground open up near the mountain, with steam coming out of the opening. Dory Vigil, a Dulce resident who captured a photo of a UFO near Archuleta Mesa, said he'd take a lie detector test to prove he and others in the community aren't making up what continues to be seen in this small town of just 2,700 people.
