Sweden: Vegetable rich diet may prevent pancreatitis
Pancreatitis refers to inflammation of the pancreas - the gland behind the stomach, which, among other things, releases digestive enzymes to break down food.
Occasionally these enzymes become active in the pancreas and start to digest the gland itself, which can become a serious, even life threatening condition.
Previous research suggests that excessive production of free radicals, which are by-products of cellular activity, is associated with acute pancreatitis. Furthermore, levels of antioxidant enzymes, which mop up free radicals, are increased during an attack.
The authors therefore wanted to know if an imbalance in antioxidant levels, associated with dietary factors, might make the pancreas more sensitive to the effects of free radicals and so increase the risk of acute pancreatitis.
The followed the health patterns of 80,000 adults in Sweden for an average of 11 years, following the initial completion of a dietary questionnaire in 1997, covering how often they ate a range of 96 food items over the previous year.
Average vegetable and fruit consumption was around 2.5 and just under 2 servings, respectively, every day. In general, those who ate the fewest daily servings of vegetables were men, smokers, and those who had not gone on to higher education.
A similar profile was seen for fruit consumption, although people in this group were more likely to drink alcohol and to have diabetes.
During the monitoring period, 320 people developed acute pancreatitis that was not associated with the complications of gallstones - a relatively common cause of the condition.
The amount of fruit consumed did not seem to influence the risk of developing acute pancreatitis, but this was not the case for vegetables.
Source: news-medical.net
