Processed meat and red meat increase risk of pancreatic cancer.

Although cancer of the pancreas is not common, it is a serious disease. It accounts for only about 2 percent of new cancer cases in the United States, but it is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths. Factors such as cigarette smoking, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle are known to increase risk of pancreatic cancer. A recent study suggests a link between diet and risk of pancreatic cancer. More than 190,000 people in California and Hawaii were studied for seven years. Those subjects who ate the most processed meat, foods such as lunch meat and hot dogs, had a 68 percent greater risk of having pancreatic cancer compared to those who ate the least processed meat. Those eating the most red meat, including beef, pork, and lamb, had a 50 percent greater risk of pancreatic cancer compared to those eating the least red meat. These results, in conjunction with other studies with similar findings, provide yet another reason to avoid meat.

Nothlings U, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, et al. 2005. Meat and fat intake as risk factors for pancreatic cancer: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. J Nat Cancer Inst 97:1458-65.