
Surge in pancreatic cancer among younger adults prompts call for quick detection and lifestyle tweaks
Pancreatic cancer, long seen as a disease of older people, is increasingly diagnosed in people in their 30s–50s as obesity and metabolic disease rise; doctors warn that its early signs are vague and often dismissed, contributing to diagnoses only after the cancer has spread in about 80% of cases, with five-year survival around 12%. The piece highlights rising incidence among younger patients, the role of risk factors like smoking, obesity, and genetics (BRCA/ATM), and new research on epigenetic changes in genes such as KLF5 that may fuel growth. It also offers lifestyle prevention tips—limiting red/processed meats and ultra-processed foods, cooking at home, eating lean proteins, and considering environmental exposures like pesticides—and notes advances in treatment (robotic Whipple surgeries, BRCA-targeted therapies) that improve outcomes when detected early.











