Welcome  to  the  public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. November  is  Pancreatic  Cancer  Awareness  Month. What  should  you  know  about  this  disease? We  asked  Kristen  Anderson, an  epidemiologist  at  the  University  of  Minnesota. Pancreatic  cancer  is  a  very  serious  form  of  cancer. There  going  to  be  about 32,000  new  cases  in  the  United  States  this  year, and  almost  an  equal  number  of  deaths because  survival  from  the  disease  is  very  poor. Anderson  says  that  the  high  death  rate  is  because pancreatic  cancer  is  difficult  to  detect  in  early  stages. But  what  are  the  risk  factors? Risk  factors  for  the  disease  include cigarette  smoking,  diabetes,  being  overweight. Research  we  found  at the  University  of  Minnesota  was  that  consumption  of high  levels  of  grilled  or  barbecued  well  done  meats also  increases  the  risk  for pancreatic  cancer  when  cooking  meats. Anderson  recommends  lowering  the  temperature when  pan  frying  pre, cooking  meat  in  the  microwave before  grilling  and  pouring  off  the  juices, wrapping  meat  in  foil, cooking  meat  in  water  to  prevent  it  from  getting  too hot  and  cutting  away parts  of  meat  that  are  burned  or  charred. Also,  remember  to  eat  the  recommended  five  servings  a  day of  fruits  and  vegetables with  another  public  health  moment. I'm  John  Finnegan.