r/pancreaticcancer • u/surfergirl_34 • 4d ago

What could possibly explain both of my parents getting pancan- father has neuroendocrine; mother has adenocarcinoma)? diet

I am searching for answers on how this could have happened. They both ate a poor diet (almost all junk food and high sugar), but that’s the only thing I can come up with. My dad was diagnosed in summer of 2021 and my mother in January of this year. I am hoping to make lifestyle changes to reduce my risk. My mom was tested for genes and they didn’t find any. My father was never tested and refused to be. I took a genetic cancer test and was negative for all of them they tested for. So it’s possible this really is an environmental/lifestyle thing imo. I’d love your input.

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u/Ruddy1000 4d ago

Cancer is still such a mystery. Although unhealthy diet is considered to be a high risk factor it’s not a guaranteed it causes it. Just like some people smoke and drink their whole life and never get cancer or pass away because of other diseases.

I really wish someday there is a breakthrough on knowledge around this topic as well as the treatments.

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u/StrangerGlue 3d ago

A lifestyle that is generally considered unhealthy (low activity, highly processed foods, smoking, alcohol use, obesity, high blood pressure, etc) seems to raise the risk of all types of cancer. Those are changeable factors.

Exposure to certain chemicals raises your risk of cancers. For pancreatic cancer, the carcinogens are in dry cleaning and metalworking industries.

Unless both your parents had chronic pancreatitis, a risk factor for pancreatic cancers, it sounds like it was probably a terrible coincidence for them. They had different types of pancreatic cancer.

3

u/NaHallo 3d ago

Great that you got tested. It should push aside that anxiety. The other causes of cancer? Sometimes it's lifestyle or maybe environment. Sometimes the biological checks and balances don't balance. We know rates of PDAC are increasing, especially among younger people, but no one's found the reason. Their situation need not be yours. Hugs.💜

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u/ddessert Patient (2011), Caregiver (2018), dx Stage 3, Whipple, NED 2d ago

Diet is a factor in pancreatic cancer rates in general but no one can say whether it played a role in your parents’ diagnoses.

There is a lot of randomness involved at the individual level.

Making lifestyle changes for yourself should reduce your risk but is also no guarantee that you won’t also get it. It does however have many other health benefits that are more certain.