New research shows that people who eat a high-fat diet may be more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, especially if their dietary fat comes from animal foods, such as meat and dairy products. That finding appears in the July 15 edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ‘Our study demonstrated a positive association between dietary intake of total fat, particularly fat from animal sources,’ researcher Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, PhD, RD, tells WebMD. ‘The strongest associations we observed were from meat and dairy products.’ Stolzenberg-Solomon, who is a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, says previous studies have shown mixed results on whether dietary fat is associated with pancreatic cancer risk. The new study included more than half a million U.S. adults. When the study started, none of them had pancreatic cancer. Participants completed surveys about their diets over the previous year, which showed fat intake ranging from 20% to 40% of calories. People who ate a lot of fat were ‘regular eaters of fat from animals,’ Stolzenberg-Solomon said. Participants were followed for six years, on average. During that time, 865 of the men and 472 of the women were diagnosed with pancreatic […]