By David Liu, PHD

Monday Sept 17, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Being overweight or obese in adolescence can increase risk of pancreatic cancer, a deadly cancer, according to a study in Cancer Causes and Control.

Zohar Levi of Tel-Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel and colleagues conducted the study and found men and women who were overweight or suffered obesity in adolescence were twice as likely as those who were not to develop pancreatic cancer in young and mid-adulthood.

For the study, researchers measured body mass index (BMI) in subjects aged 16 to 19 years during a general health examination between the years 1967 and 1995.  Overweight and obesity was defined as having a BMI of equal or greater than 85th percentile of the reference US-CDC distribution in adolescence.

During a follow-up of mean 23.3 years or 16.8 million person-years, 98 cases of pancreatic cancer were identified in the Israel National Cancer Registry updated up to 2006.

Those who were overweight or had obesity in adolescence were found at 109 percent elevated risk of pancreatic cancer, compared with those with a normal BMI.

Additionally, those who received lower education level, 10 or less years of schooling, compared with those receiving 11 to 12 years were 90 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

Height, country of origin and immigration status were not associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer.

The researchers estimated that about 16 percent of pancreatic cancer cases are attributable to adolescent overweight and obesity in Israel.

In the United States, only about 6 percent of all patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are able to live five or more years after diagnosis and only fewer than 10 percent of patients are considered in localized stage and thus as candidates for "curative" surgery.

Paige M. Bracci of School of Medicine University of California in San Francisco, California published an article in Molecular Carcinogenesis saying that "obesity is one of the few modifiable risk factors that has been associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer and also is related to increased risk of diabetes, a condition that in turn has been associated with pancreatic cancer development."

Considering that nearly 70 percent American adults are either overweight or obese, weight loss should be the measure of priority for those who suffer obesity to prevent pancreatic cancer or reduce the risk of developing the disease.