Antioxidants May Lower Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

The journal Gut (impact factor 10.11) published a prospective study yesterday investigating whether eating antioxidants such as vitamin C (found in fruits and vegetables) and E (found in nuts, seeds, egg yolk), selenium (found in cereals, nuts, fish and meat) and zinc decreases the risk of pancreatic cancer.  They looked at 7-day food diaries of 23,658 participants over 10 years in the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC-Norfolk) Study.  The estimates in this study were adjusted for other variables such as age at recruitment, gender, smoking, diabetes, BMI and total energy (smoking and diabetes are two known risk factors for pancreatic cancer).   Interestingly, those with the highest intake of selenium, vitamin C and E reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by two-thirds. Those with high intakes of selenium and vitamin E had 40% reduced risk.  Those are huge reductions in risk based on these micronutrients.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) wrote "37,000 Americans will die of pancreatic cancer this year. According to the National Cancer Institute, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death. It is often not diagnosed until the advanced stages, when treatment is challenging".  With the recent death of Sally Ride, I thought this article discussing pancreatic cancer was particularly relevant.