Consumption of tree nuts reduces women's risk of pancreatic cancer

Thursday, November 14, 2013 by: PF Louis
Tags: tree nuts, pancreatic cancer, women''s health risk

(NaturalNews) The main article in my source list had a red flag: It was from the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation (INC NREF) located in the area of Davis, California. That seemed like a conflict of interest.

But further research revealed that INC NREF had basically posted a favorable and accurate press release based on a study that had been published by the BJC, the British Journal of Cancer, an arm of the prestigious BJM, or British Journal of Medicine.

The study was not done or funded by the INC NREF. It was part of an independent third party prospective* epidemiological mega-study based on data collected from the Nurses Health Study (NHS), which started in 1976 and has gone through two phases to date.

The third phase recruitment is underway, seeking another 100,000 nurses or student nurses between the ages of 20 and 46 in the USA and Canada.

Thus far, 238,000 nurses have participated in the overarching total study, designed to determine the impact of diet, lifestyle and exercise on health and funded originally by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and coordinated and managed by the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both located in Boston, Massachusetts.

The surveys are done online. Baseline (beginning) data is collected and followed up with surveys every two to four years for disease and health status along with all the lifestyle/dietary information at each time.

From this enormous database collected from surveys of knowledgeable health professionals who have access to medical testing, several different groups within the surveyed NHS participants can be accessed with various study topics that can be addressed by researchers, even those who are outside the institutions that created and manage the NHS.

The pancreatic cancer tree nut study

The tree nut pancreatic risk survey study was conducted by researchers at the Channing Division of Network Medicine, which is connected to the two previously mentioned Boston medical institutions.

The study abstract's background information states that the researchers were aware that tree nut consumption reduced the risk factor of diabetes mellitus, which is also a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. They prospectively followed 75,680 nurses who had never had cancer and made statistical adjustments for smoking, body mass index (BMI) or weight/obesity factors and lifestyle activities.

During the prospective period, 466 cases of pancreatic cancer had occurred among the 75,680 nurses. The researchers discovered that participating nurses who ate one ounce of tree nuts two or more times per week had reduced their pancreatic cancer risk significantly.

Study conclusion: Frequent nut consumption is inversely associated with risk of pancreatic cancer in this large prospective cohort of women, independent of other potential risk factors for pancreatic cancer.

The International Tree Nut Council certainly has "evidence based" nutritional cancer-resistant data to use for promoting tree nuts from the producers they represent.

Hopefully, the FDA won't get on their case the way they did with cherry growers who promoted actual scientific study results as a basis for their health claims (http://www.naturalnews.com).

*The term prospective simply means a specific group is followed over time.

Sources for this article include:

Nurses and student nurses can register for the Nurses Study 3 here:
http://www.nhs3.org

The ITNC press release:
http://www.eurekalert.org

The actual BJC tree nut pancreatic study abstract:
http://www.nature.com

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

http://www.manta.com