The US National Cancer Institute has just published a report that links a diet high in animal fats to pancreatic cancer.  All meats are high in animal fats, with red meats topping the list.  Cheeses and all full-fat dairy products are also high in animal fats.

Pancreatic cancer is almost always fatal, a factor that puts it number four in the top causes of death from cancer in the United States.  Lifestyle choices, including diet, play an important role in determining who is most likely to develop this very deadly form of cancer.  Other risk factors include diabetes, obesity, and smoking.

While controversy has surrounded the role dietary fat plays in the risk for pancreatic cancer, the cancer institute’s report describes a study that provides a significant association between high intake of animal fats and pancreatic cancer.  The institute’s report can be found in the June 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The cancer institute’s research team gathered data from more than half a million people in 1995 and 1996.  These 308,736 men and 216,737 women completed a food survey with 124 questions as part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.  Each survey participant was followed for an average of six years.

Over time, 1,337 people developed pancreatic cancer.  Men who at diets high in animal fats were shown to be at 53% higher risk for developing pancreatic cancer than those who ate the least amount of animal fats.  Women eating high animal fat diets were at 23% increased risk.

Saturated fats in general increased the risk for pancreatic cancer.  Those who consumed diets high in saturated fats were found to be at 36% greater risk of developing this particular form of cancer.  Almost all animal fats are saturated fats.  Any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable fats are high in saturated fats, too.

Oncologist Brian M. Wolpin, of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says people who consume diets heavily laden with red meats often make other lifestyle choices that aren’t so healthy either.  For example, maintaining excess weight increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, regardless of diet.

A recent study published in the June 24 issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), indicates being obese or overweight during early adulthood ups the risk for pancreatic cancer and middle-aged pancreatic cancer patients who are also obese have low survival rates.  When someone is overweight during their thirties, they face a 60% increased risk for developing pancreatic cancer.  Obesity at that age increases the risk of pancreatic cancer by 200% to 300%.

Wolpin, author of an editorial that accompanies the cancer institute report, offers some very compelling reasons for making lifestyle changes to avoid pancreatic cancer.  He writes, “We know very little about pancreatic cancer and what the causes are, and we don’t do a very good job treating it.”