Fact: Liver disease is not a disease specific to alcohol drinkers. There are more than 100 causes of liver disease. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a disease of the liver not associated with excessive or prolonged intake of alcohol is the one of the rapidly increasing cause of abnormal liver tests in the world. Certain groups of people are recognized as having an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in particular, those who are obese, those who have diabetes and those with high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides (fats) in their blood. Hepatitis B and C ( spread by sharing needles and by unsafe sexual practices) and Hepatitis A ( spread by unhygienic food and water) are other important causes of liver disease.

Fact: Alcohol is harmful to the liver so any amount can produce damage to the liver. It was previously thought that moderate drinking is not harmful and that means no more than one drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men (one drink equals one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits). Now there is evidence emrging that even such levels of moderate alcohol consumption in people with underlying fatty liver or hepatitis virus disease may lead to harm in the long run.

Fact: Thin people or those of average build can also get fatty liver. People can develop fatty liver even if they do not have health problems such as diabetes or obesity. Fatty liver is acquired without any relation to current built but rather from unhealthy lifestyle due to accumulation of fat deposit build-up in the liver cells.

Fact: Even in advanced liver disease, it is still beneficial to stop drinking alcohol. Studies showed that people with advanced liver disease (cirrhosis) who continue drinking have only 33% chance of surviving for 5 years compared to 65% of those who stopped.

Fact: Though it is true that many of the pancreatic cancers are diagnosed at a very advanced stage, the pancreatic cancers can be cured by surgery and chemotherapy/radiation if operated upon in the early stage. A particular type of pancreatic cancer called neuroendocrine tumor can be cured or long term survival is possible even when diagnosed in an advanced stage.

Fact: Genetic or hereditary causes of pancreatic cancer account for only 5% to 10% of all the pancreatic cancers diagnosed each year

Fact: The risk of developing pancreatic cancer is low in the first three to four decades of life but increases sharply after age 50 years. Most patients are between the ages of 60 and 80 at diagnosis. Even though pancreatic cancer is uncommon in patients under the age of 40, some cases have occurred in patients younger than 30 years of age. The at-risk population (smokers, family history of pancreatic cancers) may undergo screening to detect pancreatic cancers at early stage

Fact: Recent studies have shown that the risk of pancreatic cancer increases as the amount and duration of smoking increase, and that long-term smoking cessation (>10 years) reduces the risk by approximately 30% compared to the risk of current smokers