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Magnesium Intake and Pancreatic Cancer Prevention
Researchers from Indiana University have found that people taking magnesium could be benefitted because it could help in the prevention of pancreatic cancer. The study was entitled “Magnesium intake and incidence of pancreatic cancer: The Vitamins and Lifestyle study,” and it recently appeared in the British Journal of Cancer.
The Study
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer-related death in men and women in America. The overall rate of pancreatic cancer has not significantly increased since 2002, but the mortality rate has increased yearly from 2002 through 2011, according to statistical information from the National Cancer Institute.
Study author Ka He, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Indiana Univeristy said, “Pancreatic cancer is really unique and different from other cancers. The five-year survival rate is really low, so that makes prevention and identifying risk factors or predictors associated with pancreatic cancer very important.”
In studies performed in the past, it’s been found that magnesium is inversely associated with a risk of diabetes, which is a known risk factor of pancreatic cancer. However, there have been few studies done to explore the direct association of magnesium with pancreatic cancer, and of those that were done, the findings were inconclusive.
Using information from the Vitamins and Lifestyle Guide study, Dr. Daniel Dibaba, a Ph.D. student at the University of Indiana, and other co-authors reviewed an enormous amount of information on more than 66,000 men and women between the ages of 50 to 76 years old. The team reviewed data that looked at a direct association between magnesium and pancreatic cancer and whether age, sex, body mass index, magnesium and NSAID use played a role.
Of those followed by the team, 151 participants developed pancreatic cancer. The study found that every 100 mg per day decrease in magnesium intake led to a 24 percent increase in the occurrence of pancreatic cancer.
The study also discovered that the effects of magnesium on pancreatic cancer did not appear to be effected by age, sex, body mass index and NSAID use. However, it was limited to those participants who were taking magnesium supplements either in multivitamin form or via an individual supplement.
Conclusion of the Study:
Dibaba added, “For those at a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, adding a magnesium supplement to their diet may prove beneficial in preventing this disease. While more study is needed, the general population should strive to get the daily recommendations of magnesium through diet, such as dark, leafy greens or nuts, to prevent any risk of pancreatic cancer.”
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