lim ju boo, alias lin ru wu
(林 如 武)
I published an article on:
Unlocking
the secrets of a longer life through nutrition here:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2026/03/unlocking-secrets-of-longer-life.html
About a week ago, I read an article in Straits Times that more young adults and teens in Singapore being diagnosed with cancer here:
So
I thought I should continue on this subject the reasons why more young adults,
teens in Singapore are being diagnosed with cancer.
We shall look at how the abundance of nourishment becomes toxic that drives cancer and modern degenerative disorders.
For most of human history, hunger was the greatest threat to survival. The human body evolved under conditions of scarcity, uncertainty, and intermittent food supply. Our physiology is therefore exquisitely designed to conserve energy, store excess calories efficiently, and protect us from starvation. Fat storage, insulin signalling, and powerful appetite mechanisms were all evolutionary advantages in a world where the next meal was never guaranteed.
In the modern world, however, this same biological machinery is exposed to a radically different environment. Food is continuously available, heavily processed, highly palatable, and calorically dense. What was once a survival system has become chronically overstimulated. The result is a profound mismatch between ancient biology and modern abundance, a mismatch that lies at the heart of the global epidemic of obesity, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic degenerative disorders.
Over the past seventy years, epidemiological data from almost every region of the world reveal a remarkably consistent pattern. As societies move from traditional diets toward Western-style eating, characterized by excessive calories, refined carbohydrates, animal fats, sugary beverages, and ultra-processed foods, rates of obesity and metabolic disease rise sharply. This transition has been observed in North America and Europe since the mid-twentieth century, and more recently across China, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Within one or two generations, populations that once had low rates of cancer and diabetes now exhibit disease profiles similar to those of industrialized nations.
Among all lifestyle-related risk factors, obesity has emerged as one of the most powerful predictors of cancer, second only to smoking. The World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer now recognize excess body fat as a causal factor in at least thirteen different malignancies, including colorectal, postmenopausal breast, pancreatic, liver, kidney, esophageal, endometrial, ovarian, and thyroid cancers. The steady rise in these cancers across decades parallels almost perfectly the rise in average caloric intake and body mass index in modern populations.
At first glance, it may seem paradoxical that something as natural as eating, the very act that sustains life, could eventually promote cancer and degeneration. The explanation lies not in eating itself, but in chronic metabolic excess sustained over long periods of time. The human body is not designed for a permanent nutritional surplus. When energy intake continuously exceeds energy expenditure, the entire internal environment of the body is altered in subtle but profound ways.
Adipose tissue, once thought to be inert fat storage, is now known to function as a highly active endocrine and immune organ. In states of obesity, fat cells secrete a wide range of inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6, while attracting immune cells that further amplify inflammation. This produces a state of chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, a biological background noise that quietly damages tissues, alters immune surveillance, and creates a micro-environment favorable for malignant transformation. Cancer, in many respects, thrives in inflammatory soil.
At the same time, chronic overeating leads to persistently elevated blood glucose and insulin levels. Insulin is not merely a metabolic hormone; it is also a potent growth signal. Together with insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), it activates intracellular pathways that stimulate cell proliferation, inhibit programmed cell death, and promote angiogenesis. These same signals that help tissues grow and regenerate under normal conditions become dangerous when permanently activated. Cancer cells, in effect, hijack the body’s own growth machinery and use it to fuel uncontrolled expansion.
Hormonal changes add another layer of risk. In postmenopausal women, adipose tissue becomes the primary source of estrogen through the action of the enzyme aromatase. Higher levels of circulating oestrogen are strongly linked to increased risks of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. Obesity thus transforms fat tissue into a chronic endocrine stimulator of hormone-sensitive tumors.
At a deeper biochemical level, chronic overnutrition drives excessive mitochondrial activity. The continuous breakdown of large quantities of glucose, fats, and proteins generates increased amounts of reactive oxygen species, free radicals such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide. These molecules are highly unstable and chemically aggressive. Over time, they damage DNA, proteins, and cell membranes through oxidative stress. The cumulative effect across decades is progressive molecular injury, genetic mutations, and increasing genomic instability, the fundamental substrate from which cancer arises. In this sense, chronic overeating leads to a kind of slow internal “metabolic rusting” of the body.
Cancer cells themselves are particularly adept at exploiting this nutrient-rich environment. Unlike normal cells, they preferentially rely on glycolysis even in the presence of oxygen, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. They consume large amounts of glucose, amino acids such as glutamine, and lipids to support rapid division. Modern diets, rich in refined sugars and continuous caloric supply, create an ecological niche that actively feeds malignant cells. Cancer is therefore not only a genetic disease, but also a metabolic and ecological one, shaped by the internal environment in which cells exist.
Beyond total calorie load, the nature of modern food plays an important role. Processed meats are now classified by the IARC as Group 1 carcinogens, with strong evidence linking them to colorectal cancer through the formation of nitrosamines and oxidative damage. Ultra-processed foods, increasingly dominant in modern diets, have been associated with higher risks of overall cancer, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disorders. These foods introduce preservatives, emulsifiers, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, advanced glycation end-products, and microbiome-altering compounds into the body, all of which may subtly contribute to inflammation, insulin resistance, and carcinogenesis.
The consequences of chronic over nutrition extend far beyond cancer. Type 2 diabetes arises when pancreatic beta cells eventually fail under relentless insulin demand. Cardiovascular disease develops as excess lipids and glucose damage blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. Fatty liver disease, now one of the most common liver disorders worldwide, progresses silently from simple fat accumulation to inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and eventually hepatocellular carcinoma. Even neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease are increasingly linked to insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction within the brain.
Seen from a systems perspective, chronic disease in modern society represents a state of continuous biological overstimulation without recovery. The body is forced into permanent digestion, permanent insulin signalling, permanent oxidative metabolism, and permanent cellular proliferation. Yet biological systems evolved around rhythms , feeding and fasting, activity and rest, growth and repair. When these rhythms are lost, regulation breaks down. Repair mechanisms cannot keep pace with damage, and degeneration becomes inevitable.
At a deeper philosophical level, the modern epidemic of chronic disease may be understood as a consequence of violating the metabolic design limits of the human organism. We were shaped by biological evolution - one of my areas of my interest - for sufficiency, not excess; for periodic nourishment, not constant intake; for balance, not permanent abundance. What was once life-sustaining becomes, when sustained without restraint, slowly life-eroding.
In this sense, over nourishment through over eating - perhaps among young adults and youth in wealthy Singapore as reported in the Straits Times - is not merely a matter of calories and waistlines. It is a biological, ecological, and even civilizational problem. The same abundance that symbolizes human progress now quietly undermines human health. Too little food kills quickly. Too much food, over decades, kills silently. And between these two extremes lies the fragile metabolic harmony upon which long life and genuine health ultimately depend.
Briefly Summarized:
At a deeper level, cancer and chronic diseases emerging in rich modern society, such as in Singapore as reported in the Straits Time - is not simply a medical problem, it is a civilizational pathology. We have created an environment where:
Food is abundant but biologically alien
Eating is constant but fasting is forgotten
Growth is promoted but repair is neglected
Cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease may therefore be understood not only as biological failures, but as signals that we have exceeded the metabolic design limits of the human organism.
In that sense, too much nourishment, sustained long enough, becomes a form of slow biological toxicity.
Not starvation kills us, but so does excess without restraint.
Below are some strong, well-established references I like to cite for medical researchers, nutritionists, dieticians, physicians and clinicians for their further knowledge:
Key Epidemiological and Scientific
References (Foundational)
1. Obesity and Cancer IARC (2016) – Body Fatness and Cancer
International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph.
2. WHO (2022) – Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet
3. Renehan et al., Lancet (2008) – Body-mass index and incidence of cancer.
4. Ultra-Processed Foods
5. Fiolet et al., BMJ (2018) – Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cancer risk.
6. Srour et al., BMJ (2019) – Ultra-processed food intake and cardiovascular disease.
7. Insulin / IGF-1
8. Pollak, Nature Reviews Cancer (2008) – Insulin and IGF signalling in neoplasia.
9. Oxidative Stress
10. Valko et al., International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology (2007) – Free radicals and antioxidants in normal physiology and disease.
11. Metabolic Syndrome
12. Grundy et al., Circulation (2005) – Diagnosis and management of metabolic syndrome.
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