THE RISK OF CANCER FADES AS WE GET OLDER, AND WE MAY FINALLY KNOW WHY

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

While the risk of cancer rises in our 60s and 70s, it drops past the age of around 80. A study in older mice found that they had higher levels of a protein that caused cells to act as if they were deficient in iron, which in turn limited their regeneration rates, restricting both healthy growth and cancerous tumors. The same processes were found to be occurring in human cells too. Cell growth capabilities were boosted when levels of the protein were artificially lowered or iron was artificially increased.