The pancreas plays a crucial role in digestion. When food empties from your stomach into the small intestine, it mixes with digestive enzymes from the pancreas that neutralize stomach acid, preventing damage to the intestine. These enzymes also break down your food so that it can be absorbed by your body.

More than 37,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year, mostly those over the age of 55, reports Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Typically, there are no early symptoms of pancreatic cancer, which makes it difficult to diagnose and treat successfully.

Methyl is a term from organic chemistry that refers to nutrients which produce the biochemical process, methylation, where chemicals are added to proteins, DNA, or other molecules to keep your body functioning properly.

Pancreatic cancer is usually particularly aggressive. In the U.S., there will be approximately 45,000 pancreatic cancer diagnoses in 2013 and nearly 40,000 deaths.