Are meat and heme iron intake associated with pancreatic cancer? Results from the NIH-AARP diet and health cohort.

Several studies on pancreatic cancer have reported significant positive associations for intake of red meat but null associations for heme iron. We assessed total, red, white and processed meat intake, meat cooking methods and doneness and heme iron and mutagen intake in relation to pancreatic cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort. A total of 322,846 participants (187,265 men and 135,581 women) successfully completed and returned the food frequency questionnaire between 1995 and 1996.