To prevent pancreatic cancer (pancreatic cancer), attention must be paid to reducing individual risk factors.
Behavioral risk factors
- Diet
- High consumption of red meat, i.e., muscle meat of pork, beef, lamb, veal, mutton, horse, sheep, goat; this is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” i.e., carcinogenicMeat and sausage products are classified as so-called “definite group 1 carcinogens” and are thus comparable (qualitatively but not quantitatively) to the carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effect of tobacco smoking. Meat products include products whose meat component has been preserved or improved in flavor by processing methods such as salting, curing, smoking, or fermenting: Sausages, sausage products, ham, corned beef, jerky, air-dried beef, canned meat.
- Smoked and cured foods and foods rich in nitrates and nitrites.
- Benzo(a)pyrene is formed during toasting and charcoal grilling. It is considered a probable risk factor for pancreatic cancer (cancer of the pancreas). It is found in all grilled, smoked or burnt foods. Cigarette smoke also contains benzo(a)pyrene, which in turn can lead to bronchial carcinoma.
- Nitrate is a potentially toxic compound: Nitrate is reduced to nitrite in the body by bacteria (saliva/stomach). Nitrite is a reactive oxidant that reacts preferentially with the blood pigment hemoglobin, converting it to methemoglobin. Furthermore, nitrites (also contained in cured sausage and meat products and ripened cheese) form nitrosamines with secondary amines (contained in meat and sausage products, cheese and fish), which have genotoxic and mutagenic effects. Among other things, they promote the development of pancreatic cancer. The daily intake of nitrate is usually about 70% from the consumption of vegetables (lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, green, white and Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, spinach, radish, radish, beet), 20% from drinking water (nitrogen fertilizer) and 10% from meat and meat products and fish.
- Pleasure food consumption
- Alcohol
- Tobacco (smoking)
- Overweight (BMI ≥ 25; obesity).
- Obesity at age 16-19 years (transition age) increases the rate of pancreatic cancer by 3.8-fold
- Increasing BMI from 25 to 35 increases tumor risk by about 74
- Obesity and high fasting insulin levels (per standard deviation (44.4 pmol/l) upward → increase in tumor risk by 66%) (especially men).
Environmental exposure – intoxications (poisonings) (risks not conclusively confirmed).
- Ingestion of nitrosamines
- Chlorinated hydrocarbons
- Chromium/chromium compounds
- Electromagnetic fields
- Fungicides
- Herbicides
- Fuel vapors
- Pesticides
Prevention factors (protective factors)
- Genetic factors:
- Genetic risk reduction depending on gene polymorphisms:
- Genes/SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism):
- Gene: NR5A2
- SNP: rs3790844 in gene NR5A2
- Allele constellation: CT (0.77-fold).
- Allele constellation: CC (0.59-fold)
- Genes/SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism):
- Genetic risk reduction depending on gene polymorphisms:
- Blood group 0 (0.5-fold lower risk; Germany).
- Physical exercise for weight regulation
- Vitamin C-containing food (possibly protective factor against nitrosamines).
- Metformin is associated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
