Micronutrient therapy for chronic pancreatitis: rationale and impact.

Micronutrient therapy, designed to buttress tissue methyl and thiol groups, curbs attacks and controls background pain in patients with chronic pancreatitis, irrespective of aetiology. This outcome and the premises upon which it is based facilitate an understanding of links with mutations in genes for hereditary pancreatitis and cystic fibrosis, demography, and predisposition to pancreatic cancer. Above all, there is an opportunity for prophylaxis in individuals at high risk of developing the disease.