New Study Links Soda and Sugar to Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease that very little is known about. It is so deadly and so under researched that HB 745: The Pancreatic Research Act, a Bill to ask for more research and funding was recently introduced into Congress. I knew nothing of the disease until I lost my husband to it. It was fast, painful and quite overwhelming. I wracked my brain for causes that even the doctors could not explain.

Pancreatic Cancer is nearly undetectable until it starts to spread and other symptoms start to show. It seems that the only thing that will stop this silent killer is to try to avoid it in the first place. So, I read what ever I find, and I research everything I can to get answers. Not that it will help me, other than to answer questions, but it may help someone else who is going through it, or help someone avoid the pain and possible death of pancreatic cancer.

The second Fox 2 News broadcast a Pancreatic Cancer Study this morning, I became alert. I listened to them saying that a new study possibly links pancreatic cancer and soda. They went on to say that consuming more than two regular sodas a week increased your risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

I needed to know more, so I ran to my computer and did a Google search using the words "pancreatic cancer soda." Google showed me page after page of results. It seemed like every news network around was reporting the same thing.

Soda has a high sugar content, which may increase the levels of insulin in the body. The pancreas already makes insulin so the study believes that a high insulin rate causes cancer cells to grow in the pancreas.

That was all well and good, but my husband hardly ever consumed a soda. Yet he was a dedicated coffee drinker and every cup had to have sugar in it. He drank sweet tea, and ate sugary cereal for breakfast. Maybe it is simply the sugar intake and not the soda itself?

The study was published in the American Association for Cancer research. The study was conducted in Singapore and was lead by Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota. The group followed 60,542 men and women for 14 years. The study reported that 140 of them developed pancreatic cancer.

Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center was skeptical and stated that the findings "remain unclear." I personally have read other reports that possibly link pancreatic cancer to many other things: smoking, hereditary, cement exposure and even meats. Nothing has been very conclusive. I still have no answers, only possibilities.

Before throwing away all of your soft drinks and your bag of sugar, read the reports below. These are just finding and reports after all. Pancreatic cancer, though it is the deadliest cancer out there, still has very little research and very little funding.

Get involved, spread the word. Pancreatic cancer is killing people all over the country at an alarming rate and there is very little known to stop it, or even detect it until it is too late. Read the Bill I have linked below, read the reports, and you will be astounded at the lack of knowledge or research funding that pancreatic cancer gets, considering how deadly it is.

Sources:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15626951

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/178470.php

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/19/2/447.abstract

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2410654/hr_745_the_pancreatic_cancer_research.html?cat=5