Largest Study Ever

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Last year, pancreatic cancer ate Patrick Swayze alive. Before him, it was Pavarotti. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers—less than 5% of victims even make it out five years. Thankfully, it’s rare—only strikes down about 30,000 or 40,000 Americans every year. But how do you study something that’s so rare? You bring to bear the largest study ever.

The NIH-AARP study is currently following a half million American men and women in their 50s and 60s. It is the largest forward-looking nutrition study ever conducted. What did we just learn from it about pancreatic cancer?

Well, we’ve known pancreatic cancer was a lifestyle-related disease; related to smoking, and the dietary intake of fat—but what kind of fat? Enter: the NIH-AARP study.

What do you think they found? Who thinks pancreatic cancer is associated with beef fat? Bacon? Chicken? Fish? Dairy? Eggs? Anyone want to change their answer to none of the above? What about all of the above?

The answer, according to the largest such study ever, is all of the above. Dietary fat of animal origin was associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk.

What about dietary fat of plant origin? I covered up the rest of the conclusion so we could find out together.

Who thinks your typical vegetable oil is associated with pancreatic cancer? The plant fat largely found in nuts? The saturated fat found in chocolate and coconut milk? All of the above? None of the above?

Let’s look at the rest of the conclusion. Dietary fat of animal origin was associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk. And that’s the end of the conclusion. Pancreatic cancer is significantly associated with red meat; significantly associated with dairy; and when one adds in all other meats, fish, and eggs, it makes the cancer connection even stronger.

But no association with plant fats. Conclusion: evidence of a role for animal fat in the development of pancreatic cancer, but no connection with any kind of fat from plant food sources.

What if we just eat animal foods that are low-fat, like skim milk? An even newer study out this year found an even stronger link between pancreatic cancer and animal protein—an even tighter correlation than with animal fat. Plant protein, on the other hand, appeared protective. Even animal sugars are associated with pancreatic cancer. There’s only one animal sugar—lactose. So animal fat, animal protein, and animal carbs—all independently associated with pancreatic cancer risk.

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• Hart AR, Kennedy H, Harvey I. Pancreatic cancer: a review of the evidence on causation. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008 Mar;6(3):275-82. Population Health, School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. a.hart@uea.ac.uk
• Thiébaut AC, Jiao L, Silverman DT, Cross AJ, Thompson FE, Subar AF, Hollenbeck AR, Schatzkin A, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ. Dietary fatty acids and pancreatic cancer in the NIH-AARP diet and health study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2009 Jul 15;101(14):1001-11.
• Lucenteforte E, Talamini R, Bosetti C, Polesel J, Franceschi S, Serraino D, Negri E, La Vecchia C. Macronutrients, fatty acids, cholesterol and pancreatic cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2010 Feb;46(3):581-7.
• Chan JM, Wang F, Holly EA. Sweets, sweetened beverages, and risk of pancreatic cancer in a large population-based case-control study. Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Aug;20(6):835-46.

• animal fat
• animal products
• beef
• cancer
• chicken
• dairy
• eggs
• elderly
• fat
• fish
• meat
• mortality
• oils
• pancreatic cancer
• poultry
• red meat
• seafood
• tobacco
• vegetable oil