Page 95 - EJMO-9-2

Eurasian Journal of Medicine
and Oncology

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Investigating the dietary links to pancreatic

cancer: A case–control study on dairy, meat, and
egg consumption

Sabika Allehdan 1 , Mohammed O. Ibrahim 2 , Narmeen Al-Awwad 3 ,
5
Aya Hamdan 4 , Tareq Al-Jaberi , Ahmad F. Hushki 6 , Yaser Rayyan 7 , and
4
Reema F. Tayyem *
1 Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Zallaq, Sakhir, Bahrain
2 Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mu’tah University, Mu’tah,
Karak, Jordan
3 Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Hashemite
University, Zarqa, Jordan
4 Department of Human Nutrition, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
5 Department of General and Pediatric Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science
and Technology, Al Ramtha, Irbid, Jordan
6 Gastroenterology Division, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan
7 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Jordan,
Amman, Jordan

*Corresponding author:
Reema F. Tayyem Abstract
(reema.tayyem@qu.edu.qa)
Citation: Allehdan S, Ibrahim MO, Research has demonstrated that the intake of specific foods and nutrients is linked to
Al-Awwad N, Hamdan A, the risk of pancreatic cancer, but the role of meat and dairy consumption in pancreatic
Al-Jaberi T, Hushki AF, Rayyan Y,
Tayyem RF. Investigating the dietary carcinogenesis remains controversial. The main objective of this study is to investigate
links to pancreatic cancer: A case– the association between the intake of dairy products and meats and the risk of pancreatic
control study on dairy, meat, and cancer. A case–control study was conducted between March 2015 and August 2018 at
egg consumption. Eurasian J Med four main hospitals in Jordan; one of the hospitals was an oncology center. Participants
Oncol. 2025;9(2):87-98.
doi: 10.36922/ejmo.6637 in the study included 101 histologically confirmed pancreatic cancer patients, which
were frequency-matched with 314 controls. The required information for this study was
Received: November 28, 2024
gathered through questionnaires based on face-to-face interviews. An Arabic food-
1st revised: January 2, 2025 frequency questionnaire that has been validated was used to collect data on the intake
2nd revised: January 6, 2025 of different food items from dairy and meat groups. Multinomial logistic regression was
employed to determine odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence
Accepted: January 13, 2025
intervals (CIs), considering potential confounders. The consumption of different levels
Published online: February 27, and frequencies of yogurt, white cheese, processed cheese, red meats, and chicken was
2025
observed to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The adjusted OR indicated that the risk
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). of pancreatic cancer was positively related to a daily intake of yogurt (OR: 2.88 [95%CI:
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the 1.40 – 5.91; p = 0.001]), cooked lamb meat (OR: 2.50 [95%CI: 1.30 – 4.84; p = 0.002]),
Creative Commons Attribution and cooked veal meat (OR: 1.72 [95%CI: 1.11 – 3.77; p = 0.011]). Furthermore, daily and
License, permitting distribution, weekly consumption of white cheese, processed cheese, and cooked chicken may be
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. According to the study’s findings,
properly cited. the consumption of yogurt, white cheese, processed cheese, red meat, and chicken was
linked to a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Keywords: Case–control study; Pancreatic cancer; Dairy products; Meats; Eggs
affiliations.

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2025) 87 doi: 10.36922/ejmo.6637