Even more surprisingly, Sabine Rohrmann of University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues also found eating poultry may increase risk of pancreatic cancer by as much as 76 percent, compared to those eating little or none.
Pancreatic cancer is lethal but few risk factors have been identified that play a major role in the development of this deadly malignancy. This study was intended to examine the association of meat and fish consumption with pancreatic cancer risk based on data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).
Enrolled in the study between 1992 and 2000 were 477,202 participants from 10 European countries. As of 2008, 865 nonendocrine pancreatic cancer cases had been identified. Multi variable-adjusted Cox hazard regression models were used to examine the associations between variables and risk of pancreatic cancer.
As a result, eating 50 grams of red meat or processed meat per day was associated with 3 % increased or 7% reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, respectively. The researchers said the data suggested that consumption of red meat and processed meat was not associated with pancreatic cancer risk.
Interestingly, eating 50 grams of poultry and fish per day was correlated with 72 and 22 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer, respectively. But the researchers said fish consumption was not associated with pancreatic cancer risk while acknowledging that eating poultry was linked with increased risk.
The researchers concluded "Our results do not support the conclusion of the World Cancer Research Fund that red or processed meat consumption may possibly increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The positive association of poultry consumption with pancreatic cancer might be a chance finding as it contradicts most previous findings."
This study is in sharp contrast to many other studies.
S. C. Larsson and A Wolk of National Institute of Environmental Medicine Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden meta-analyzed data from multiple prospective studies and found strong evidence that eating 50 grams per day of processed meat was associated with 19 percent increased risk for pancreatic cancer in men and women.
Larsson and Wolk offered an explanation why eating processed meat including bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs or processed deli or luncheon meats is linked to elevated risk of pancreatic cancer. They said preservatives such as nitrites and nitrates in processed meat may be responsible for this elevated risk because they are known to form carcinogens called nitrosamines in the human body.
Meat eaters who want to cut their risk for pancreatic cancer may consider drinking a glass of orange juice or other vitamin c rich fruit juice while eating meat as studies show that vitamin C can help prevent the formation of carcinogens of nitrosamines.
Larsson and Wolk also found eating 120 grams per day of red meat may increase risk for pancreatic cancer by 13 percent in men and women. Among men alone, eating such an amount of red meat boosted the risk by 29 percent. But women who ate that amount of red meat were not at higher risk. One possible reason for this observation is the intake of iron from red meat. Women lose iron monthly explaining they have a low risk for pancreatic cancer even if they eat red meat.
Larsson and Wolk published their study online January 12 2012 in British Journal of Cancer, which was based on data from 11 protective study of 6,643 pancreatic cancer cases identified by searching PubMed and EMBASE databases updated as of November 2011.
