I'm hoping my story will benefit those who're beginning the prostate cancer recovery process, such as it is, and that what I've learned during a year of fighting this ugly, miserable disease will ease their journey.

Until October 2010 cancer always happened to the "other guy"; I was sympathetic to his plight and then went about my business… until I became one of those "other guys" and in 2010 joined the ranks of the estimated 217,730 men with prostate cancer. I definitely did not want to be one of the predicted 32,050 deaths but there they were, the numbers about my cancer, straight from the American Cancer Society.

And in the Hey-Here's-Some-Background-Stuff-About-Prostate-Cancer department, prostate cancer information is everywhere on the Internet. Bing or Google "prostate cancer" and you get 52.4 million results. Big numbers for a Big Deal, and cancer is always a Big Deal.

My urologist broke the news to my wife and me after I'd donated a pint or two of blood and had undergone a biopsy — more about that later- – with the words nobody wants to hear: "You have cancer."

The world in which I'd lived for 66 years, my comfortable universe, rippled and I suddenly slipped into that alternate universe of folks who have cancer, leaving the other cancer-free dimension behind. That's how it felt for me when the diagnosis reared its ugly head. Cancer. I have it. Damn!

My brother-in-law and I have explored this rather unique feeling — he's in remission from a serious form of cancer — and I wasn't surprised that he feels the same way. He's been fighting his battle longer than I have, but we agree that our viewpoint about life has changed and that now we're separated from everyone else in a subtle way, because there is an element in our lives that could remove the uncertainty about how long we'll live.

The study confirms that eating processed meats daily increases the risk of developing pancreatic cancer up to 38%. The data was gathered from 11 clinical trials and over 6 000 pancreatic cancer patients and concluded that this deadly condition can be caused by what is in your refrigerator.

Pancreatic cancer is classified the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the world.

Although it is not as common as many other cancers, it is responsible for 6% of cancer deaths each year. In 2010, it was estimated that over 40 000 people were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It has been found that 95% of pancreatic cancer victims die within five years of diagnosis.

The use of preserving agents such as nitrites was found to be the link in the production of cancer. These agents have been known to be severe carcinogens for many years.

Despite numerous scientific studies confirming the link, processed meats have suspciously stayed on the market.

The methods used for processing meats include preserving, canning, freezing, refrigeration, and dehydration. Many processed meats are made with unhealthy trans-fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar.

Researchers analyzed data for 162,000 participants, including Caucasians, Japanese Americans and native Hawaiians in Hawaii and African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles.

When the study began, participants were asked to answer a diet questionnaire. Over the next eight years, researchers followed up, looking for the occurrence of cancer, and compared the diet of those individuals with others in the test group.

The group recorded 434 cases of pancreatic cancer, said Dr. Loic Le Marchand, CRCH researcher and professor.

The researchers concluded: "High fructose and sucrose intakes may play a role in pancreatic cancer etiology. Conditions such as overweight or obesity in which a degree of insulin resistance may be present may also be important."

Sucrose, extracted from sugarcane and sugar beets, is commonly known as cane sugar. Fructose occurs in fruits and fruit juices.

New discoveries are giving researchers hope about the future of detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer, one of the most difficult cancers to find early and treat effectively. During the past 10 years, the American Cancer Society has invested more than $60 million in more than 150 research studies into the prevention, early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

One reason pancreatic cancer is so hard to find early is that the pancreas is located deep inside the body, making it nearly impossible for health care providers to see or feel tumors during routine exams. Patients usually have no symptoms until the cancer has already spread to other organs. Only about 5% of patients live 5 years past diagnosis, which is among the lowest survival rates for any cancer.

Right now, there are no reliable routine screening tests to look for pancreatic cancer in people without symptoms. Researchers have found some substances that pancreatic cancer cells release into the blood, but by the time levels of these substances are detectable, the cancer is no longer in its early stages. Blood tests for these substances are used mainly to help monitor the course of the cancer in someone already known to have it, rather than to look for cancer early.

Researchers have also found that pancreatic cancer cells often contain certain changes in their DNA. Current research is exploring ways to develop screening tests that use new DNA and blood markers to detect pancreatic cancer earlier, when it’s easier to treat.

DNA Markers

American Cancer Society-funded research professor Burt Vogelstein, MD, at Johns Hopkins University, has found compelling evidence linking certain DNA changes to pancreatic cancer. Ralph Hruban, MD, also at Johns Hopkins, has identified certain genes (pieces of DNA) that are frequently damaged in pancreatic cancer, including KRAS, CDKN2A, p53, and SMAD4. Changes to these genes and others are believed to cause pancreatic cancer.

Building on the DNA research, doctors at the Mayo Clinic are studying a new way to test for pancreatic cancer in patients’ stool samples, recently publishing their research online in the journal Cancer. Their study focused on detecting DNA changes in stool samples of 123 patients, 58 diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 65 who were not diagnosed with cancer.

"We found that a marker was reliably detected in both tissue samples and in the stools of pancreatic cancer patients, and that it compared favorably with another kind of marker – the mutation of a gene called KRAS," says John Kisiel, M.D., Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, who presented the study's findings at a recent meeting. "When we looked at those two markers together, the combined accuracy of both markers was significantly better than with either marker alone."

The screening detected the markers regardless of the stage of cancer or the location of the cancer within the pancreas. If confirmed by future studies, these findings may lead to more early detection of pancreatic cancer, which could significantly increase the survival rate for those who have the disease. The stool tests are also noninvasive, and samples could be collected by patients at home and sent to their doctor, without an office or clinic visit.

What you eat plays a critical role in determining whether or not you develop cancer, indicates a new report published in the journal Nature. Pancreatic cancer takes nearly 20 years to develop in the body, but its onset, growth, and spread is largely determined by the types of food a person eats, and whether or not those foods feed or starve the cancer cells.

According to an analysis by Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology and oncology at Hopkins' Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, and her colleagues, it takes nearly 12 years for the first cancer cells to develop in the pancreas. It then takes another nearly seven years for them to grow, followed by at least another year for them to spread. It is only in the last two-to-three years that the disease actually starts to kill a person.

Conventional detection methods are typically unable to detect pancreatic cancer early enough to do much about it, and prevention methods are rarely spoken about by conventional medical experts. However, there are numerous studies that point to ways people can help prevent the disease from taking hold. After all, there is at least a 20-year window to start making the proper dietary changes now before it is too late.

A 2009 study published in Cancer Causes and Control suggests that eating meat, at least conventionally-raised meat, increases pancreatic cancer risk. Table sugar and potatoes are also implicated, each associated with roughly a 100 percent increased risk of developing the disease.

Scientists have puzzled over the deadly nature of pancreatic cancer, in which fewer than 5 percent of patients survive for five years after being diagnosed. By then the cancer has usually spread beyond the pancreas to lymph nodes or other organs.

Some researchers argue that the cancer is so lethal because it is fast-growing and aggressive, while others suggest the cancer's deadliness stems from an ability to remain hidden for years.  The new research suggests the slow-growth theory might be on target.

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