Pancreatic cancer is a silent disease. For many people, it has no symptoms until it is fairly advanced. Weight loss and increased blood glucose levels are known signs, but it has been unknown—until now—when these changes occur and to what extent. If we can better understand how and when these changes happen before pancreatic cancer diagnosis, we can use this knowledge to diagnose the disease earlier. Researchers investigated known signs of pancreatic cancer—weight loss, high blood sugar and diabetes—and looked at when they develop in relation to cancer. We found that dramatic weight loss in people with pancreatic cancer started...