Daily Express | July 11, 2011

VITAMIN A could hold the key to beating pancreatic cancer, according to British scientists.

The disease has the lowest survival rate of all cancers and once diagnosed most people do not survive a year.

Now an international research team from Barts Cancer Institute in London has found that raising levels of Vitamin A in healthy cells around the cancerous ones can inhibit cancer growth.

Consultant Dr Hemant Kocher, of Barts and The London NHS Trust, led the four-year joint project with Cambridge University and the Hub­recht Institute in Holland.

He said: “The findings should lead to better survival rates and different treatment methods for pancreatic cancer that annually kills almost 7,500 patients in the UK.” Dr Kocher said the research was based on a theory originally proposed in 1889.

Vitamin A, found in foods such as carrots and broccoli, is often deficient in many patients with the disease.

Clinical trials will now take place at Barts.