Low-fat diet minimizes risk of pancreatic cancer in overweight old women

A recent research reported that if women take low-fat diet in older age, then they might reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer development.

A clinical trial was conducted between 1993-1998, that included 46,000 obese women, aged between 50-79 years, on high-fat diet.

The population was further divided into two groups. The first group (intervention group) was asked to take low fat diet, which includes fruits, vegetables and grains, while the second group (comparison group) was advised to take normal diet. This process was then continued until 2005.

After a follow up of 15 years, it was observed that the pancreatic cancer cases were 92 in the intervention group and 165 in the comparison group. This translates to 35 cases per 100,000 people in the intervention group and 41 cases per 100,000 people in the comparison group.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Li Jiao, Associate Professor of Medicine-Gastroenterology, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, supported the study by saying that the previous researches also reported that the diet has some role in the development of pancreatic cancer. But, the fact was not supported with any experiment yet.

For the current research, the scientists analyzed the data that was extracted from the Women’s Health Initiative. According to the analysis, postmenopausal women, who were obese and overweight, showed a reduction in the risk for pancreatic cancer with low-fat diet. However, the low-fat diet did not show any impact in women, who had normal weight. Jiao also added that the study may not be applicable on men, since the analysis was based on the female data.