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Diet linked to acute pancreatitis risk
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Researchers associated various dietary factors to the risk for acute pancreatitis in a large study cohort representing multiple ethnicities.
“Our study indicated that several dietary factors including red meat, saturated fat, cholesterol, coffee, fiber, vitamin D, fruits, and vegetables might be associated with pancreatitis, warranting confirmation in other studies,” Veronica Wendy Setiawan, PhD, of the department of preventive medicine and the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and colleagues wrote.
Veronica Wendy Setiawan
Because data are limited on dietary associations with acute pancreatitis other than alcohol abuse, Setiawan and colleagues prospectively analyzed dietary questionnaires and the incidence of pancreatitis among 145,886 participants aged 45 to 75 years in the Multiethnic Cohort, 1,210 (43.1%) of whom were diagnosed with gallstone-related acute pancreatitis, 1,222 (43.5%) of whom were diagnosed with acute pancreatitis unrelated to gallstones, and 378 (13.5%) of whom were diagnosed with recurrent acute pancreatitis or suspected chronic pancreatitis between 1993 and 2012.
The investigators found that intake of saturated fat (P for trend = .0011), cholesterol (P for trend = .0008), red meat (P for trend < .0001) and eggs (P for trend = .0052) were associated with an increased risk for gallstone-related acute pancreatitis. Red meat was also associated with an increased risk for recurrent acute pancreatitis and suspected chronic pancreatitis, but this did not reach significance when comparing the highest vs. lowest quartiles of red meat consumption.
Conversely, they found that dietary fiber was associated with a reduced risk for both gallstone-related acute pancreatitis (P for trend = .0005) and acute pancreatitis unrelated to gallstones (P for trend = .0035).
Further, vitamin D (P for trend = .0015) and milk consumption (P for trend = .0071) were associated with a reduced risk for gallstone-related acute pancreatitis, while coffee consumption was associated with a reduced risk for acute pancreatitis unrelated to gallstones (P for trend < .0001).
“Currently, there is no available treatment for pancreatitis, which underscores the importance of identifying modifiable risk factors for the primary prevention of this disease,” Setiawan and colleagues wrote. – by Adam Leitenberger
Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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