Current Research - Energy Balance

Pancreatic Cancer

The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study investigated the association between adiposity and physical activity and pancreatic cancer in nearly 500,000 participants aged 50-71 years. Follow-up time started 1 year after baseline, and subjects with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 were excluded.
A subcohort of approximately 300,000 individuals completed a second questionnaire with information about physical activity and waist and hip circumference. During follow-up though 2000, over 650 pancreatic cancer cases were identified.
Compared to those with a BMI between 18.5 and 25, participants with a BMI equal to or greater than 35 had a 45% greater pancreatic cancer risk. Significant positive associations for BMI were observed among nonsmokers (for BMI equal to or greater than 35) but not among recent smokers. Waist circumference was positively associated with pancreatic cancer in women but not men. Researchers observed no association with physical activity.

This population-based, case-control study in the U.S. explored risk factors for pancreatic cancer, including obesity. Direct subject interviews was initiated by NCI and collaborators in New Jersey, Detroit, and Atlanta.
Data were collected from more than 2,000 cases and 2,100 controls, approximately equally divided between African Americans and whites.
Findings have solidified the causal link between cigarette smoking and the risk of pancreatic cancer, but have explained little of the excess risk seen for African Americans.
Results indicated that consumption of alcohol at levels typically consumed by the general U.S. population is probably not a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, but that heavy alcohol drinking may increase risk.
Researchers found that obesity and diabetes are risk factors for pancreatic cancer and appear to contribute to the higher risk among African Americans than whites in the U.S., particularly among women.
For more information, see this additional DCEG webpage.

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