High-calorie, high-fat diets are linked to increased pancreatic cancer risk, say researchers.
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Eibl and his colleagues set out to model diet-induced obesity and the development of pancreas cancer in a set of mice and then compare them to genetically identical mice that had not been given a high-fat, high-calorie diet.
Obesity in these mice resembles human obesity in a number of important clinical features, including weight gain and the disturbance of metabolism. The mouse model was ideal for unraveling any underlying biological mechanisms of pancreas cancer put in motion by obesity, the researchers said.
The research team also set parameters to assess the impact of the high-fat, high-calorie diet on mouse pancreas tissue, such as increased inflammation and other biological signs that indicate pancreas problems.
The study showed that the mice fed a diet high in fats and calories gained significantly more weight, had abnormalities in their metabolism and increased insulin levels, and displayed marked pancreas tissue inflammation and development of pancreas intraepithelial neoplasias.
These observations strongly suggest that such a diet leads to weight gain and metabolism disturbances, can cause pancreas inflammation, and promotes pancreas lesions that are precursors to cancer.
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Source-ANI