"You shouldn't neglect your gums," says Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, and never a truer word was spoken. New research by Brown University professors shows bacteria associated with gum disease is also linked to pancreatic cancer and flossing could prevent both.
The findings were posted online July 10 in the journal Carcinogenesis and originally reported by LiveScience. Newser explains some of the theories of how that bacteria could lead to cancer: "The bacteria may cause body-wide inflammation, weaken the body's immune system, or directly activate pancreatic tumor signaling pathways."