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In order to study the effect of diet on the incidence of experimental pancreatitis, ligation of the common bile duct was carried out in 179 rats which had been fed on six different types of diet for 4 to 6 months. The highest mortality rate and most marked histologic changes of the pancreas were observed in the group of high protein diet. It was assumed that the reactive pattern of the pancreas might be influenced by dietary composition.

The influence of oral administration of alcohol upon histologic pictures of the rat pancreas and its relationship to dietary composition was investigated. The rats fed on a high carbohydrate diet showed minimum changes in the pancreas as compared with those fed on a high protein, high fat, high protein and high fat diets and with those fed on low protein and high fat diet.

Statistical studies were carried out on the difference in clinical pictures of chronic pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western peoples. It was found that chronic pancreatitis of the Japanese was less severe in symptoms and the incidence of pancreatic calculi was rarer than in Western peoples and that the cases associated with Asearic lumbricoides was decreasing in frequency in the Japanese. Of 50 cases of upper abdominal operations experienced in the authors' Department, none developed postoperative pancreatitis. These marked differences in clinical manifestations of chronic pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western peoples might be attributed to the difference of dietary habit.

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