Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb;15(2):257-265.e3.
doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2016.08.038. Epub 2016 Sep 5.

Dietary Factors Reduce Risk of Acute Pancreatitis in a Large Multiethnic Cohort

Veronica Wendy Setiawan  1 , Stephen J Pandol  2 , Jacqueline Porcel  3 , Pengxiao C Wei  4 , Lynne R Wilkens  5 , Loïc Le Marchand  5 , Malcolm C Pike  6 , Kristine R Monroe  4
Affiliations

Dietary Factors Reduce Risk of Acute Pancreatitis in a Large Multiethnic Cohort

Veronica Wendy Setiawan et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Background & aims: Pancreatitis is a source of substantial morbidity and health cost in the United States. Little is known about how diet might contribute to its pathogenesis. To characterize dietary factors that are associated with risk of pancreatitis by disease subtype, we conducted a prospective analysis of 145,886 African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, Latinos, and whites in the Multiethnic Cohort.

Methods: In the Multiethnic Cohort (age at baseline, 45-75 y), we identified cases of pancreatitis using hospitalization claim files from 1993 through 2012. Patients were categorized as having gallstone-related acute pancreatitis (AP) (n = 1210), AP not related to gallstones (n = 1222), or recurrent AP or suspected chronic pancreatitis (n = 378). Diet information was obtained from a questionnaire administered when the study began. Associations were estimated by hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for confounders.

Results: Dietary intakes of saturated fat (P trend = .0011) and cholesterol (P trend = .0008) and their food sources, including red meat (P trend < .0001) and eggs (P trend = .0052), were associated positively with gallstone-related AP. Fiber intake, however, was associated inversely with gallstone-related AP (P trend = .0005) and AP not related to gallstones (P trend = .0035). Vitamin D, mainly from milk, was associated inversely with gallstone-related AP (P trend = .0015), whereas coffee consumption protected against AP not related to gallstones (P trend < .0001). With the exception of red meat, no other dietary factors were associated with recurrent acute or suspected chronic pancreatitis.

Conclusions: Associations between dietary factors and pancreatitis were observed mainly for gallstone-related AP. Interestingly, dietary fiber protected against AP related and unrelated to gallstones. Coffee drinking protected against AP not associated with gallstones. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Pancreas; Population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Diet and the Risk of Acute Pancreatitis.
    Archibugi L, Capurso G. Archibugi L, et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Jul;15(7):1138-1139. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2017.03.005. Epub 2017 Mar 11. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017. PMID: 28300696 No abstract available.
  • Reply.
    Setiawan VW, Monroe KR, Pandol SJ. Setiawan VW, et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Jul;15(7):1139. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2017.03.036. Epub 2017 Apr 2. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017. PMID: 28377072 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Peery AF, Crockett SD, Barritt AS, et al. Burden of Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Pancreatic Diseases in the United States. Gastroenterology. 2015;149(7):1731–41. e3. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yadav D, Lowenfels AB. The epidemiology of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Gastroenterology. 2013;144(6):1252–61. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Talamini G, Bassi C, Butturini G, et al. Outcome and quality of life in chronic pancreatitis. JOP : Journal of the pancreas. 2001;2(4):117–23. - PubMed
    1. Kolonel LN, Henderson BE, Hankin JH, et al. A multiethnic cohort in Hawaii and Los Angeles: baseline characteristics. American journal of epidemiology. 2000;151(4):346–57. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Setiawan VW, Virnig BA, Porcel J, et al. Linking data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study to Medicare data: linkage results and application to chronic disease research. American journal of epidemiology. 2015;181(11):917–9. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types