A high-fat diet may promote the growth of pancreatic cancer.

high-fat diet may promote the growth of pancreatic cancer because of the interaction between dietary fat and cholecystokinin (CCK), a digestive hormone.

Dietary fat triggers the secretion of CCK by the small intestine and people whose diets are high in saturated fats often have high levels of CCK. This raises the risk of pancreatic cancer.

In a study, a group of mice was fed a high-fat diet, while another followed a normal diet. Half the mice were treated with proglumide, a medication that blocks CCK.

Some mice had tumours lacking CCK and some were deficient in CCK and had pancreatic tumours. Mice treated with proglumide had less tumour growth than the untreated mice, even when fed a high-fat diet. 
The mice lacking CCK also did not respond to a high-fat diet. These results suggest that CCK is needed to stimulate the growth of pancreatic cancer.

Moreover, the high-fat diet-fed mice lacking CCK receptors did not show any tumour growth, suggesting that without receptors to bind to, increased CCK from dietary fat is unable to promote cancer.

Blocking CCK may also help prevent the spread of pancreatic tumours to other parts of the body.