11 hours ago
Why your addictive personality is increasing your cancer risk
When we talk about addiction, it's usually smoking or drinking alcohol that comes to mind. Most of us are aware that these are behaviours that may rush us towards poor health and, potentially, a cancer diagnosis. The statistics speak for themselves: six million people smoke, 24 per cent have too much alcohol and two-thirds are overweight or obese and, since 1995, cancer cases have increased every year in England (with the exception of 2020, when the drop in diagnoses is widely considered a result of a pandemic-fuelled NHS disruption.)
But there are other lower-level addictions that go under the radar that can be just as damaging to our health. It's these lesser-known dependencies that are subtly increasing our risk of cancer that Dr Raphael Cuomo, a cancer epidemiologist and professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, wants to draw our attention to.
You might jokingly confess that you've got an 'addictive personality', you're 'addicted to crisps' or 'addicted to looking at your phone' – but Dr Cuomo wants us to take these addictive behaviours more seriously. In his new book, Crave: The Hidden Biology of Addiction and Cancer, he explores how our supposed addictions to sugar and excessive screen time could be reshaping our biology to make us more susceptible to cancer.
'These are the addictions that we may not appreciate as seriously – like the constant need to be on a phone and scrolling through social media, the constant need to snack on processed foods.' They might not be classed as cancer-causing by leading cancer authorities, but Dr Cuomo argues that these habits trigger cellular changes that are depleting our health and can make us more vulnerable to the disease.
'I want to raise awareness that these low-grade addictions are not just a negative thing in isolation but they have a bigger consequence on the long-term risk of disease,' Dr Cuomo says.
Screen addictions mess with your hormone production – and your health
'Even when you're just scrolling through your phone, you see something interesting and it gives you this low-grade high, this dopamine rush – and you want more,' Dr Cuomo says. This process, of exposure to engaging pictures and videos mixed in with less interesting content, is known as variable reinforcement, which he likens to playing on a slot machine.
'It keeps you scrolling and scrolling, hoping that you're going to get that dopamine hit,' he explains. 'We are hoping for the high of something interesting showing up on the newsfeed. The companies that make these products know about these mechanisms and they're manufactured with this in mind.'
While addiction to screens is not widely medically recognised, the NHS launched a National Centre for Gaming Disorders in 2019 amid a rising number of people seeking help for being unable to control their video game use.
Compulsive time spent scrolling through our devices causes spikes in the stress hormone, cortisol. 'The cortisol will prevent the relaxation needed in order to repair DNA breaks and it will also prevent our immune system from clearing out damaged cells,' Dr Cuomo argues.
'When you're looking at screens constantly, especially late at night, you get exposed to blue light which suppresses melatonin,' he says. This is a hormone that supports our body clock and has cancer-protective effects.
Being addicted to sugar compromises your immune system
In the UK, we're hooked on sugar, eating 18 teaspoons on average per day when a maximum of eight teaspoons is recommended – and Dr Cuomo believes we're addicted. Just last year, a collection of renowned experts gathered at the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference to get addiction to highly processed junk foods officially recognised as a condition by both WHO and leading psychiatry institutions.
'When we consume sugary or junk food, it tastes good and makes us feel good,' he says. Sugar triggers the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, which are associated with pleasure. 'We eat this food and suddenly we're feeling better,' he says. This pattern causes us to seek out sugary, high-calorie food repeatedly, which Dr Cuomo believes is sugar addiction.
The problem is that when sugar enters our system, it spikes our insulin levels and stimulates insulin-like growth factor one (IGF-1), a hormone that promotes cell growth. In short bursts, these responses are normal, but when experienced repeatedly, cells begin to divide and multiply more rapidly, Dr Cuomo says. 'Repeatedly, over time, that will promote the development of tumours.'
The types of food that we're most likely to become hooked on – which are high in sugar, refined carbohydrates and additives – also trigger low-grade inflammation, which hampers our immune system and could make it less equipped to identify and eliminate abnormal cells, he says.
Three ways to tackle your addictive behaviours
'These addictive behaviours are not fixed,' Dr Cuomo notes. 'People can escape them and reverse the risk of cancer.' This is seen among smokers who quit as, after around 12 years of no longer using cigarettes, their risk of lung cancer is half that of someone who still smokes.
'Risk is fluid and, ideally, to keep risk minimal, we would engage in these behaviours not very much overall,' he adds. These are his tips on kicking your reliance on sugar and screens.
1. Tackle the root cause of your behaviours
We turn to addictive behaviours as a way of displacing stress and as a source of comfort. 'We're seeking a kind of distraction to prevent us from dealing with the bigger issues, from relaxing and allowing our bodies to sit and repair,' Dr Cuomo says.
It's uncomfortable to stop and think about what you're trying to escape from, but tackling the source of stress or trigger for reaching for food or your phone can help to replace it with healthier behaviours, he suggests.
2. Take an enforced break
'I would encourage people to attempt a reset,' Dr Cuomo says. 'I think that if you can achieve seven days without something, then you tend to start to break free from the addiction.'
This would mean going for a whole week without eating sugar or engaging with the screen-based activity you feel you're addicted to, such as social media. 'Then you can re-engage, but you shouldn't be dependent upon it.'
'Seven days is a very high bar for a lot of people,' he notes. If it seems like too much, then start with one-day breaks, building up until you reach seven.
'Create barriers,' Dr Cuomo recommends. These include not buying any sugary foods or putting them in a more awkward location to get to, such as the top shelf of a cupboard. To cut back on using certain apps, you can remove them from your phone. 'You want to make the habits you've developed an addiction to be more difficult to engage with.'
3. Stick to a sleep schedule
A regular sleeping pattern can help to regulate cortisol and melatonin levels, and it interrupts the loop of compulsive reward-seeking, better equipping you to steer clear of your unhealthy habits.
'Do the same thing every night before bed,' Dr Cuomo suggests. 'Go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, even on the weekend.'
