The researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston reported the study results at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego.

"Obesity is a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer, but the mechanism underlying that relationship is unknown," study senior author Dr. Stephen Hursting of M.D. Anderson said in a statement. "Our findings indicate that calorie restriction hinders development of pancreatic cancer, which could have implications for prevention and treatment of pancreatic tumors caused by chronic inflammation and obesity."

Mice that spontaneously form lesions that develop into pancreatic cancer were fed either a calorie restricted diet; a diet with 30 percent more calories, or the overweight diet; and a third diet 50 percent higher in calories, or the obesity diet.

Only 7.5 percent of mice on the calorie-restricted diet developed pancreatic lesions at the end of the experiment -- lesions so small that none exhibited symptoms of illness. For mice on the overweight diet, 45 percent developed large lesions, as did 57.5 percent of those on the obesity-inducing diet, Hursting said.