TORONTO – Processed meats may lead to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a review released Friday by the British Journal of Cancer.
The key conclusion suggests eating an extra 50 grams of processed meat every day-approximately equivalent to one sausage-would lead to a 19 per cent increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer.
Processed meats include sausages, hot dogs, deli meats, and bacon. These foods are preserved by smoking, salting, curing or by the addition of chemical preservatives, such as nitrites and nitrates. These nitrogen compounds, which occur naturally in foods, are thought to have possible carcinogenic effects when combined with proteins during digestion.
Toronto-based Registered Dietitian Nicole Springle says it’s easier than you might think to go beyond that extra 50 grams of processed meat in your daily diet.
“Fifty grams is 1.75 ounces. A slice of deli meat is one ounce,” says Springle. How many cold cuts do you put on your sandwich?
The review also looked at red meat and pancreatic cancer and found no overall association. However, red meat consumption averaged higher in men than women, and red meat consumption was positively associated with pancreatic cancer risk in men only.
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The review states the association in men could be a chance finding, or may indicate a threshold effect, where risk is heightened only at very high levels of red meat consumption.
The Canadian Cancer Society has listed guidelines for red and processed meats in relation to colorectal cancer on their website since about 2008. Suggestions include saving processed meats for infrequent special occasions, and choosing the leanest red meat available, limited to three servings per week.
Springle notes that red meat is not something she specifically cuts out of her clients’ diets at the Cleveland Clinic Canada.
“I think there is more and more research to indicate, though, that in terms of the processed meats, we really want to be limiting, if not eliminating them from the diet…once a week is really not occasional enough.”
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 4,100 Canadians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and approximately 3,800 died of the disease. Pancreatic cancer accounted for approximately 2.3 per cent of new cancer cases in 2011.
“The Canadian Cancer Society welcomes this study as it adds to the body of research on the role of diet and cancer, and may help to clarify the link to certain foods,” Director of Cancer Control Policy Gillian Bromfield told Global News. “Pancreatic cancer has a very low relative survival rate, six per cent at five years following diagnosis, so anything we can learn about the causes of this cancer is important.”
In Friday’s British Journal of Cancer press release, study author and Associate Professor Susanna Larsson emphasized the low survival rates associated with pancreatic cancer and pointed to the importance of early diagnosis.
“If diet does affect pancreatic cancer then this could influence public health campaigns to help reduce the number of cases of this disease developing in the first place,” says Larsson.
The review conducted a meta-analysis drawing on 6, 643 pancreatic cases from 11 prospective studies of red and processed meat consumption. Authors admit in their discussion of findings that not all of the studies included in the review made adjustments for possible confounding factors such as a history of diabetes and body mass index.
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