According to a recent study, spending time in the sun can help your body produce more vitamin D, thus helping you reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.
Researchers at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine gathered data from 107 countries, and found that countries with least amount of sunlight also had the highest rates of pancreatic cancer. Even after taking into consideration other factors such as alcohol consumption, obesity and smoking, the strong link between low exposure to sunlight and pancreatic cancers still persists, as reported by Fox News.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Cedric Garland” author_title=”Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and lead author of the study”]
If you’re living at a high latitude or in a place with a lot of heavy cloud cover, you can’t make vitamin D most of the year, which results in a higher-than-normal risk of getting pancreatic cancer. (…) The importance of sunlight deficiency strongly suggests – but does not prove – that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the risk of pancreatic cancer.
[/quote]
According to American Cancer Society, about 48,960 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, and 40,560 will die of it.
Symptoms can include stomach and back pain, unexpected weight loss and jaundice, however in early stages it usually doesn’t cause any symptoms making it hard to diagnose. Having a history of other health conditions – such as diabetes, chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), stomach ulcers and Helicobacter pylori infection (stomach infection) also increase the risk, according to The Daily Mail.
In an unrelated health study, diabetes has been linked to the consumption of sugary soft drink and could be reduced by 25 percent by swapping one sweetened drink with unsweetened tea or coffee.
