Those with high levels of antibodies against bacteria associated with gum disease could be more than twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those with low antibody levels according to the results of a new study published online this month in the journal Gut.

While the study doesn’t directly implicate poor oral health and periodontal disease with pancreatic cancer it does raise the possibility that maintaining good oral hygiene could lower an individuals chances of developing pancreatic cancer.

Over the last year or so there has been a number of well publicized studies linking aspirin with a reduction in the risk of developing various forms of cancer. Many people will be wondering if the decreased risk of cancer is sufficient to justify taking a low dose aspirin daily. While doctors normally recommend a low dose aspirin regime to prevent myocardial infarction in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, most shy away from recommending low dose aspirin to apparently healthy individuals.

Women with large waist sizes may be up to 70% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than their slimmer counterparts according to a new study published online this month in the British Journal of Cancer.

The study, which was headed by Dr Juhua Luo of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, involved the study of almost 140,000 post-menopausal women aged 50-79 from the Women’s Health Initiative. The women were initially free of pancreatic cancer and were followed for an average period of 7.7 years.

Regular consumption of fish may reduce the risk of developing many forms of cancer including cancers of the esophagus, mouth, stomach, colon, and pancreas according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in July 1999.

The study, conducted by Italian researchers, involved the comparison of over 8,000 people who had been diagnosed with various forms of cancer with 7,990 control subjects who were free of cancer.

Diets high in folate, also known as folic acid or vitamin B9, have been implicated with a reduced risk of many cancers including colo-rectal, lung, and esophageal cancer. Recent evidence also suggests a link between folate and a reduction in pancreatic cancer risk of up to 75% in some cases.

The study, conducted by Swedish researchers and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in March 2006 involved the study of 81,922 men and women from Sweden for an average of 6.8 years.

Many smokers want to know exactly how much higher their risk of dying from various forms of cancer is compared to non-smokers. Unfortunately the answer is a lot higher, more than 10 times higher for cancers such as lung, larynx, and mouth cancers.

Interestingly some forms of cancer that one wouldn’t normally associate with smoking such as pancreatic cancer, cervical cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia are also more likely in smokers.

Fruit and vegetable consumption may reduce the probability of developing pancreatic cancer according to several recent scientific studies.

One of the largest studies on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and pancreatic cancer risk was published in September 2005 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The study was conducted by researchers at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California and involved analyzing the dietary habits of 532 individuals diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and comparing them to 1,701 healthy individuals.

Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, peanuts, grapes, and cranberry juice, has been shown to kill pancreatic cancer cells in vitro according to a new study published in the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.

Researchers divided cancerous pancreatic cells into two groups, one group was treated with a 50 mcg/mL resveratrol solution while the other group did not receive the resveratrol treatment.

While most people know that high blood sugar levels are a precursor for diabetes, several studies have also suggested a link between high blood sugar levels and the risk of developing some forms of cancer.

The largest of these studies was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January 2005. The researchers used data from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study (KCPS) which involved more than 1.2 million Koreans between the ages of 30 and 95.

Most people know that being overweight increases your risk of developing diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. What a lot of people don’t realise however is that being overweight also increases your risk of developing many forms of cancer.

The most comprehensive study on the environmental and lifestyle factors responsible for cancer is known as “The Cancer Prevention Study 2″. The study was conducted from 1982 to 1997 and followed 1.2 million American men and women